Rain, Rain go Away
by Nico-Ru
Summary: Marlee Hyson attended a Rural High School and lived with her grandmother. Her life was simple until she found out she was a mutant...They thought it was a challenge getting me to come here...convincing me to stay, now that's the challenge.
1. New Beginnings

**Rain, Rain Go Away **

Chapter one- New Beginnings 

Disclaimer- I am but a poor rural girl…if I owned X-men I would be living in a big city and not in my shack…and I would not be writing fan fiction, instead I would be writing the real comic books making millions. Marlee however is mine. The point of this is simple. Don't sue me!

I never liked the rain.  
The rain always came hand in hand with my sadness. Strange I know, but that's the way that it's always been, ever since the first time I fell off the swing in our front yard. But it was always bad when my parents fought. They always fought over everything.  
When I was about nine, my mom left. I wasn't too shocked as she was never home to begin with. She was always on "business" trips with her "business" associates. My dad worked a lot and very hard to make sure we had enough to get by with. Sometimes he had weird hours but he was always there for me when I needed him and that was what mattered.

On my thirteenth birthday, dad dropped me off at Grandma Amelia's house just like he always did. It was kind of a tradition. Every birthday I would go see Gram and dad would pick me up that evening and we'd go do something, just the two of us. He dropped me off as usual, but he didn't come back this time.

That day was the last time I saw my father. So now I'm living with my Grandmother (my mother's, mother- lucky for me she doesn't have the same abandonment issues as the other two…) I miss my dad a lot, but I can't help but almost hate him for just leaving me. With mom, well, she's never been there for me anyway – so it doesn't sting as much. Going back to our little house and having to pack everything up hurt the most, that's what made everything seem so final, but what's done is done.

Three years later 

"I'm leaving" I shouted to my grandmother as I quickly walked out of the house.  
"Marlee Hyson! You wait just one minute"  
I stopped and turned around to see what she wanted, unfortunately I had a pretty good idea of what she was yelling to me about. I looked up and there they were - the most hideous pink and purple winter boots that you could ever see.  
"You forgot to wear your boots, honey" Gram said sweetly.  
"Grams, there's no snow," I pointed out. She stared at me, failing to see me point. "It's the middle of October" I tried again, there was still no change.  
"Better safe then sorry," she said then held the offensive things out to me and in a voice that said there was no changing her mind she said, "Now put them on."  
Grumbling all the way up to her I took the boots and put them on under her scrutinizing watch of course. Once satisfied, she turned and went back into our house to watch her daily soap operas. That was when I grabbed my sneakers with a very sly grin and walked down the road.

Once out of the view of the house I took off my ugly boots chucked them in my book bag and put my sneakers back on, and continued, now extremely pleased with myself for my cleverness, on my ten-minute walk to Middleton High School.

As I entered the school yard I got the usual from the students here, glares and rude gestures, mostly because I give them their fair share of dirty looks at least twice a day. If they had already labelled me the heartless freak, why not act like it? But let's save that rant for later.

I met up with my usual, very small group of friends, Amy and Kristy. No, they weren't my only friends, in case you were worried about my psychiatric well-being. They were, however, the only ones I could hang out with all the time. The other ones annoyed the crap out of me if they were around for too long or too often.  
"Hey Mar," Amy greeted me.

"What's up" Kristy asked, seeing my dark expression.  
"My grandmother tried to make me wear the boots again" I explained to them.  
And what did my 'loving' friends do? They burst out into gales of laughter! Honestly, I get no sympathy from them whatsoever. Maybe if I hadn't have laughed at them the time the two of them had creepy stalker guys…  
"Aww, you guys are so nice," I shot back sarcastically, "thank you for that total lack of sympathy."  
"You have to admit that it's funny."  
"More like horrifying."  
Before the mock argument could continue, the bell rang and off I went to first class.

The dreaded English class.

Don't get me wrong, I love the class, it's the annoying boorish ox-man that teaches it that I don't like.

'Aww crap, I'm gonna be late,' I think to myself, cursing under my breath. I quickly turned the combination on the lock that kept my locker so nicely shut and cursed it _so_ bad. I never could get the hang of un-locking the blasted things - that's what Kristy was handy for. But good old Kristy didn't want to risk being late for Mr. Hunter's class (I can't blame her…) and left me to undo this thing all by myself. When the lock finally clicked open in defeat, I swung open the locker, opened my book bag and grabbed the boots to shove in there until the end of the day. This was when my bad day got even better, all of my books and binders were covered in mud, thanks to those hideous things my grandmother called footwear!

'GAH!' I cry out in dismay, 'this is just not my day.' I slammed my head against the now closed locker door forcing it to bang rather loudly and echo in the empty hallway.  
"Mith Hython, what are you doing in the hall after the bell winged" It was my Vice Principal, Mr. Peters. The poor guy was cursed with a very bad lisp as a child. The rumour is that his brain just got too fried to function properly but meh, what can you do?  
"Getting my books Mr. Peters, I'm just leaving now."  
"Awwight, keep up that 'A pluth' attitude" he said cheerfully, giving me an over-enthusiastic thumbs-up before he went strutting off down the hall trying to find another poor soul to pester. I glared at the back of his head.  
'Annoying man…'  
I knock quietly on Mr. Hunter's door.  
"Aahh, Marlee, I was wondering where you were. Why, may I ask, are you late"  
"Locker trouble" I replied simply.  
"That, Marlee is not my problem, you being late however is, and I will not stand for it. Now go take your seat and see me at the beginning of lunch hour to hear what you missed."

I scoffed to myself. I was only ten minutes late, and by the looks of things he hadn't even started the day's lesson yet. I could have been another ten minutes late and still not have missed anything, except maybe hearing a story about his son or his wife.

Sure, you might think it's endearing _now_, but after you hear them day after day…  
I walked over to my seat and sat down beside Pearl, the neediest and one of the most annoying people that I have ever had the fortune of meeting. And so it began… again…  
"Hi, Marlee, where were you? You were gone for ten whole minutes and I was wondering where you were, I was such a loner with out you, you're my best friend you know, we still have four more classes and lunch hour together, today's going to be so much fun I can feel it. Does what I'm wearing make me look fat? ………………"  
And she went on. And on. And on and then, for good measure, on some more. At this point I had to try really hard to keep myself from banging my head off the desk repeatedly, if only to drown out her whiny voice… 'Only five more hours.' I repeated to myself as she started talking about her 'adorable' boyfriend, again.

Today was not my day.

I could feel the grey clouds form. School was finally over, turns out Mr. Hunter had only talked about his high school days in the ten minutes I was gone. I didn't want to know that this brute of a middle-aged man went streaking back in the day, but I was forced to listen to it and then he lectured me about my muddy assignment! Computer, Science and Math classes went the same as always, slow and boring and incredibly annoying due to the fact I had to sit with Pearl.

Lunch was, as always, my favourite part of the day. I got to see the guys that I can only see at lunch hour mostly because we share the same musical interests. (And I got to ditch Pearl! You have to be really quick, she's got some tracking signal she uses to home in on me if I'm too close…) They were metal heads, so you got to love them, and they always had my kinda music on them.

Therefore, they were my lunchtime buddies. Their 'leader' was very cute, if I must say so, and that gave me even more of a reason to go see them.

I was just walking into my driveway when I noticed something that shouldn't be there.

Gram's house is a typical, elderly woman's house. Small, cozy, slightly falling apart… Everything there gave off the 'olden days' vibe. Sure she owned a car, but even that was a complete clunker she had to get fixed every other week. Gram's house has it's own distinct look; it was easy to see there was something wrong.

A sleek black car was resting in our driveway. Everything about the thing screamed – "I don't belong!"

'What the hell?' I wondered. I tore my gaze from the awesome car and looked to the house. There were four strange adults knocking on my front door, two guys and two girls. One woman had bright red hair while the other's was stark white, one of the guys was wearing sunglasses... the sun wasn't even out so it was weird, the last guy was tall, blonde and, as far as I could tell, was the most normal looking out of the group.

They turned to look at me at the same time, like their heads were all on the same string or something. I was beginning to get a little creeped out.  
"Hello, Marlee. We would like to talk to you and your grandmother" the red head stated.  
"H...how do you know my name"  
The four just smiled at me.

Scratch the 'little' creeped out, I was now full-blown weirded out by the whole situation. I wasn't too worried though. Grandma has a shotgun and a baseball bat hidden in the umbrella stand, if worse come to worse, I could always send them packing.  
"Sure, I guess" I opened the front door slowly"Come on in."

A/N- Hiya! This is my second story, the first one was posted but was a complete flop. I owe many thanks to my Beta reader, and neighbour of thirteen years, Satori Blackthorn. I hope you like the first chapter we worked long and hard on it.


	2. Rain Wash Me

_**Chapter Two**_

_Rain Wash Me_

EDITED - Satori B here, just taking the song out to ensure the story is meeting with the new criteria... Sorry, but if you like you can look up the music and see how well the song goes with the chapter... Later!

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own X-men or Saturnus or their song used in this chapter. Marlee and her gram are mine and were created by me. Don't sue please!

* * *

I quickly gave the group another once over before I completely opened the door to let them enter my home. They seemed trustworthy enough. Though, at first look I seem to be a happy-go-lucky teenager with an affinity for dark colours… Only half of that would have been correct. Take a wild guess at which one…

Now that I had a closer look the guy's hair wasn't so blonde. Up close it was more of a dirty blond or…

"Light brown," the redheaded woman supplied for me readily.

... Did I say that out loud? I thought warily. I didn't need them to think I was some weirdo who talked out loud to themselves…  
"No."

Gah!

"What's going on?"

She just gave me this eerie grin and stepped into my home.

"Gram!" I called out belatedly, more or less escorting the group in to the hallway, "we've got visitors!"

"Well, send them in, dear," she said in her sweetest grandmotherly tone. I scowl inwardly; she never used that voice when we were home alone. THEN it was more like a screeching banshee with sinus problems.

"I," the woman with red hair started, "am Jean Summers, a professor at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, in Winchester, New York. This is my husband, Scott Summers. As well as Ororo Munroe, a professor at the school and friend of the family, Robert Drake."

"Call me Bobby," he interjected quickly, a look of irritation on his face. He glanced at Mrs. Summers; obviously annoyed she had used his full name.

Mrs. Summers extended her hand out towards my grandmother who shook it to be polite, even though I know she has a thing for hygiene. I bet she was just itching to get out her hand sanitizer…

"How may I help you four?" she asked gesturing for them to make themselves comfortable in the living room. I waited in the hallway for them to sit down, so that way I could choose who I sat beside. I hope there's enough room left on the couch to sit next to 'Robert'…

"We are here to speak to you about Marlee," Scott said simply.

Ooohh crap, what did I do now?

"Well, come in and sit down," she said pointedly, noticing their delay in arranging themselves in the sitting room. "Can I offer you a cup of tea?" My grandmother was such a nice person... in front of company.

"No, we really must get right to the point as we have to leave shortly," Miss Munroe stated. I'm just going to go with calling her Miss Munroe and the redhead Mrs. Summers. I don't often go around calling older women by their given names. Not to mention the fact that I'd be beyond embarrassed if I pronounced Miss Munroe's wrong…

"So then, why exactly are you here?"

I love it when people say what I'm thinking.

"You might want to take a seat Ma'am. What we are about to say will probably come as a shock to the both of you and will change your lives forever."

I looked at them with a puzzled expression and slowly walked away from Gram's umbrella stand and into our cosy little living room to sit on the arm of the chair my grandmother was occupying.

"You," Mrs. Summers said, looking directly at me, "are a mutant."

That was it.

No opening speech.

No 'I'm going to say a whole lot of things that have no relevance to our visit just to draw it out more'.

Hell, not even a 'this is the truth and you have to believe me if you want to live.'

Well, maybe that last one would have been just as bad…

"What?" I cried as soon as I found my voice. I think I had swallowed it and sent it to my kidneys; it was so hard to work that simple statement from my throat. A flood of disbelief washed over me. There was no way she was being serious. This had to be a joke.

Mrs. Summers looked at me sympathetically.

Please be a joke.

"…She's a what?" Apparently Gram was having the same thoughts I was. Of course, she looked a lot more composed than I felt I was.

"You're a mutant, kid. Welcome to the freak show." Bobby obviously thought he was being funny. I shot him a glare to reinforce the message Jean was sending at him with her own silent reprimand.

Scott glared at him too ... okay so you couldn't actually _tell_ if he was glaring or not but he was looking in his direction and frowning so I assumed the glare was under the strange sunglasses.

"You are one of the hundreds of mutants in this world, child. You are not alone in this," Miss Munroe tried to calm me down. It wasn't working too well.

I could feel panic start to overwhelm me, as well as fear. I couldn't be a mutant. Mutants were bad. They stole and killed people and were always on the news for the bad things they've done. I wasn't one of them. I was scared.

I was terrified of what they were. They didn't belong, that's what all the news reports said, what everyone said. I looked to the people in front of me. They were mutants too. But...

"This doesn't make any sense…" I murmured quietly.

"Not all mutants are bad, Marlee. We are just like every other human, except with special abilities," Mrs. Summers said calmly.

I couldn't be one of them… Me? A mutant? I was already labelled as a Satan worshipper, I didn't need extra body parts to confirm their rumours.

"We would like to take her to our school so she can find and develop her powers," Miss Munroe continued to explain.

"What do you mean 'powers'? She can't be a mutant - no one else in the family is," my gram said forcibly, she was trying as hard as I was to convince herself these visitors were lying.

"Sometimes the X gene – the gene that determines who is a mutant and who is not – lies dormant for a couple generations. Sometimes it appears each time. There is not a consistent pattern that it follows. Just believe us when we say that Marlee is a mutant, and without our help her powers could quickly overwhelm and overpower her."

Gram's skin paled at that. If mine wasn't already the color of bleached concrete, I could say that mine did the same. That last tidbit of information sure didn't sound inviting. If they weren't lying… What would happen to me?

"Each mutant had their own special powers and abilities they can use for whatever they

may choose, it's like having a constant magically ability except brought about by DNA." I was so beyond weirded out at the moment. Maybe I'll just wake up and find this was all a dream brought about by those nachos I had before I went to bed the night before. "The Xavier Institute is a place where Marlee can learn to use her abilities without harming herself or those surrounding her. We offer special classes at the school directed towards management of mutant powers. We can enrol Marlee in the school nearby so that she might continue with her education." Mrs. Summers said. I got the feeling that this was a regular spiel that she had to ramble off every time she had to convince someone that they were a genetic anomaly.

I was still working out the idea that the people in front of me were mutants and weren't the evil creatures that the media made them out to be. There was silence in the room as the information sunk in. Except for Bobby's foot bouncing up and down on our faded crimson carpet, there were no other discernable sounds other than our rhythmic breathing.

Gram was the first to break the silence.

"How much would all of this cost? We're just getting by as is. I can't afford to send her to some fancy private school on what I am getting for a pension, especially one that's so far away." Our financial state always brought out a dangerous gleam in my grandmother's eyes. Usually it was as if she were daring the other person to make an unasked for comment, or even a sympathetic glance. It never came though; she was a bit scary in this light. Trust me.

Wait a minute - was Gram seriously considering this?

"All we expect of you is co-operation and trust. All other funds are taken care of."  
More unnatural silence. I am not good with prolonged silence. I like noise. That's one reason I always have something playing in the background, even when I'm sleeping.

Once again, Gram was the one who broke the silence.

"Marlee, do you want to go?" Gram was looking at me with unshed tears lining her eyes. Gram was such an awesome person. Even if her choice in winter clothing was abominable. She was always there for me in her special way. I couldn't tell if she wanted me to go or not. What would she do here without me to yell at and make me eat all my vegetables? What would I do without her to wake me up in the morning? I still hadn't even decided if I wanted to go yet myself. Hell, none of this had even been properly processed and I was supposed to have come to a decision already?

"I… I… don't know," I sighed, "is there any way I can let you know later, or tomorrow or something?"

"If that is what you want, get back to us at this phone number." Scott handed me a business card with 'Xavier's Institute for Gifted Youngsters' written on it in fancy penmanship, the number was there as well as fax numbers and mailing address. I took it numbly and handed it to Gram.

They headed for the door. Just as the other three left, Miss Munroe turned and looked directly at me.

In her strange, unrecognisable accent she said, "If you do not wish to do this child you do not have to, but I was once in your position and encourage you to join us at the school. It would be for the best of all." And then she left, closing the door with a soft click behind her. I watched the sleek black car pull out of our driveway and speed down pothole-riddled road. When they were out of sight, I walked over and sat down beside Gram.

"Do you want me to go?" I asked quietly, staring up at a water spot on the ceiling. I meant to paint over it one day. It had always bugged me.

"If it's what you want to do then I'm not going to stop you."

I sighed that was no help

"I'm going to start supper dear, you just let it all sink in and think about it."

I just looked up at my Grandmother, she looked so sad but so happy for me at the same time. She was a strong woman, the type that I look up to. She was my idol. Not that I'd ever admit that to her face.

I started up the stairs to my room when the phone rang.

"Got it…" I looked at the small digital screen... guess who it was.

Pearl.

I sighed. I so didn't need this right now. It rang again. I picked it up and immediately slammed it back down on the receiver.

That made me feel marginally better. I then positioned the phone off the hook so that if she tried to call again all she would get would be a busy signal.

Ah, momentary peace.

I opened the door to my room. My room was what one would call cosy, or box-like. It had red walls and there black highlights painted on them as well. The walls were a deep red and black Japanese characters decorated another wall, another wall sported black patterns of splatter paint (something I totally recommend if you are bored out of your mind and have permission from your parents/guardians.) The other wall hosted my window and the last was covered with posters of my favourite bands. Mostly of my three favourite bands: Iced Earth, Arch Enemy and Pantera. The ceiling held more posters and handprints I'd placed there with a stepladder. People who didn't know me from school would assume that I was a "Goth", or say that I worshiped the devil. This was all due to the type of music I listened to (metal), but music is what I based my room on. Personally I loved it, it fit me well. I lay down on my bed and fell asleep...

* * *

I awoke to the sound of my grandmother calling me for supper.

"Coming!" I yelled down the stairs. I ran down the stairs and into the kitchen. I love food. I was washing the dishes when Gram turned on the news. There was some middle-aged woman (with make-up that looked like it was put on with a shovel) on the news interviewing some balding guy in a business suit. I usually don't pay attention to this crap because I don't need anyone telling me just how screwed up our world is today, but this caught my attention.

"Mutants are a threat to the society. They are dangers to everyone if they are not registered. We don't know who they are or what they are capable of. We need to know. They must be stop—" Gram turned the television off. She didn't look happy, in fact she looked rather peeved.

"Gram, what's wrong?"

"Did you hear that Marlee? 'Mutants are a threat to society'…" she snorted in a rather ungrandmotherly-like manner and shook her head, her grey hair quivering in resentment.

"Damn people who think they know everything…"

"Huh?" I was one confused person. I thought Gram didn't like mutants. Was it just because of what Mrs. Summers and the rest of them said today? Just because I was one?

Or, supposed to be one…

I love my grandmother.

"You should go to this school Marlee, it can teach you things - things that would make you better than people like that man. You can learn more about the world and prove the ignorant fools in the media wrong. I want you to go and show 'society' there are still some good mutants."

I sat down beside this strange, opinionated old woman whose expression quickly changed from anger to sadness and I hugged her.

"Okay Gram, if it's what you want." I let go of my grandmother, made her a cup of tea and went into my room to pack. I pulled out my suitcases from under my bed. The last time I had used these… This seemed so familiar to me.

I opened the suitcases and began to sort through my room, packing away my clothes and items of personal value like my cds and posters and, of course, my Care Bear. Yes, a Care Bear, it was the first stuffed animal that I had ever received. It had been a gift from my parents and I always kept him with me. Even if he had the power to completely crush the image I had as a cold-hearted bitch and had done nothing to quash.

All of the room was packed except for my closet; I flicked on the radio because my cds were all packed away. There's good planning for you.

I opened the closet doors and began to sort through my sweaters and jeans. When I finally reached the back of the closet all that was left was the ugly winter jacket that matched the horrid boots my grandmother had tried to make me wear that morning. I picked it up and flung it across the room with the rest of the clothing that would not be moving with me and would most likely be given to the Salvation Army.

"What's… this? …" I took it out from the corner of the closet and into better light so I could examine it further. It was a medium sized wooden box with my name engraved in silver on the top. "Oh my gosh…" I couldn't believe that I had forgotten about this for so long. But then again I was very angry with my parents at that point in time.

* * *

Flashback

_"How could he do this to me?" I wondered out loud. _

_He was my father, the man who had raised me since that woman walked out on our lives, why would he just desert me here with her? He promised me he would never do what she did. _

_"UGH! I can't believe this!"_

_I threw my suitcases down on my new bedroom floor at Grandma Amelia's house and began to unpack my clothes. A loud rumble sounded outside my window, followed almost immediately by a brilliant flash of lightning. Rain lashed at the glass, searching for a way in and the wind battered at the already weak latch, whining in agony. I glanced out at the most violent thunderstorm I'd ever seen, or since mom left anyways... _

_I continued to put my stuff away; well, more like throw it in every direction, satisfied by the various crashes and bangs that sounded when the laws of gravity took hold. It was even better when they landed at the same time as a violent rumble of thunder. I soon came to the bottom of my last suitcase. I was disappointed by the idea that I would have no more excuse to throw things. _

_At the bottom of my bag, I came to a strange box. It had my name written on it in fancy calligraphy, etched into a silver plate on the lid. I flipped it over, my memory catching up to me. I remembered this… _

_On the bottom it said 'Love Always Mom and Dad'._

_"Yeah, Right!" I said sarcastically. "If that's not the most ironic thing I've ever fucking heard." I cursed and threw it in the back of my closet never to be seen again. One last smash, and the tickling of broken glass sounding inside the box mingled with a house-shaking roll of thunder. _

_"Love always, my ass."

* * *

I sat down and just held the box on my lap my hands began to shake. I could feel the tears start the well up in my eyes. It just goes to show you how often I clean out my closet... and how often I've looked for that coat._

I traced my finger over the inscription and a single tear escaped my eye at this point I remembered again what this was.

My parents put this together for me when I was two, I have yet to open it up. My hands trembled more violently now that I started to life the cover off.

Inside, underneath the shards of the mirror that had been housed on the underside of the lid, were pictures of both of my parents and myself at the park and doing family stuff I couldn't remember because I had been so young. Carefully dumping the shards into the trashbin, I took each of the pictures in my hands and looked at them. More tears followed as some of the lost memories continued to return. Dad and I at the park, Dad and I at the zoo...

I continued to sort through the objects, there were more pictures from after mom left, so dad must have kept adding to it for me. There were so many things that showed how much I've changed. I watched as I grew from a toddler to a preschooler, from a preschooler to a bratty seven-year old and then from a seven-year old to a preteen.

"Heh…" it was my little Barney figurine from my first birthday cake, and my first report card from school.

I missed him.

I missed him so much.

What would he think of me now?

I was right out bawling when I seen a wedding picture of him and mom, and one of him and mom with me in the hospital. How happy they looked.

All too soon I was at the bottom of my box.

"Huh? What's this?" I pulled out an off white envelope with my name written neatly in my father's hand. I had just barely broke the seal on it when Gram called my name, I stuffed the letter back into the box with the rest of the mementos and then placed the box inside of my bag, turned off the radio and ran downstairs to see what she wanted. Just before I stepped into the sitting room I wiped the tears from my face. Hoping that I didn't look too pathetic and tear-stained, I entered the room.

"What did you want, Gram?" I rounded the corner, to find that Gram wasn't alone. Mrs. Summers and Miss Munroe were in there with her.

"I called their number," Gram explained softly, pleading at me with her eyes for me not to be angry. "They need for you to leave tonight."

"I am glad that you chose to join us," Miss Munroe spoke and Mrs. Summers nodded in agreement.

I sighed, so much for one last night in my own bed. I was hurt that my gram called without my knowing, but what could you do? I was leaving now, so I might as well let it be and move on. I couldn't hold it against Gram. They wanted me to leave today, Gram didn't.

"I'll be right down," I walked upstairs to get my stuff. I grabbed the three bags and walked into the sitting room.

"We are travelling to Maine tonight and will be staying at a hotel there for the night and will continue for Winchester tomorrow," Jean explained.

I just nodded and smiled wanly. She gave me a searching look. She couldn't possibly know how unsure I was of all this... could she?

"Good bye Gram, I'll miss you."

"Good bye Marlee, don't worry I'll see you soon." She pulled me away from the two women for a moment. "Marlee, be strong. This is what is best for you. I know you don't want anyone to be hurt because you couldn't control your powers – even if your powers haven't surfaced yet. You can always call me. They've promised me that I can come and visit any time I want, and you can visit over vacations." She looked at me, a sad smile on her face, and tears brimming. "Don't worry, dear. If it doesn't work out, you always have a place here. Of course," she paused looking at me teasingly, "I might have to kick out the guy I'd be renting your room out to…"

"Gram!" I said. I was going to miss her so much. I threw my arms around her again – wishing time could stop so I could think of everything I wanted to say to her. But of course, I didn't have that ability.

"Thanks for everything Gram. I'll miss you so much…"

I walked outside into the now pouring down rain. I grimaced; it had been a bright sunny day this morning...

"You made the right choice," Mrs. Summers said looking at me as she loaded my things into the truck of the car, "you're going to like it there."

"I'm sure I will," I said sarcastically while I put the rest of my bags in the trunk and stepped into the back seat. I shut the car door with a little bit more force than was needed and pulled out my mp3 player. I turned it up pretty loud so I know that they could hear it. Miss Munroe gave me a funny look when the music started to play. We backed out of the driveway and I watched my old house disappear into the darkness, I tried to get a good look at it, because who knows when I'd be able to see it again... or if I'd ever see it again. We passed the 'Now leaving Middleton' that was when I knew that this was really happening and that I was on my way to a new life.

Mrs. Summers smiled at me reassuringly in the rear-view mirror. I scowled back and turned to stare out the window.

I might have decided to come out of my own free will, but that doesn't mean I had to be agreeable.

Or that I couldn't give these people hell for the next twenty-four hours.

See you later Gram…

* * *

End Chapter 


	3. Dinner with a show

_**Chapter Three**_

_Dinner with a Show_

Disclaimer – I do not own X-Men or anything else you might recognize.

This was going to be one **long** car ride.

You'd think that two supposed mutants would have something interesting to talk about. You know, like… well I don't know. But _something_! Even the weather. I could have put up with a nice moving conversation about glaciers melting; it would have been far better than what I had to deal with.

Silence.

Except for their classical 'music', and I use the term lightly.

Now don't get me wrong, I love classical music. I actually have a few cds of it packed away to listen to on occasion. It's great stuff to put on when you're working on homework or don't really want to listen to words. But the stuff they had wasn't what I call the fun stuff. This was the old, real classical stuff.

Definitely not something that I would call crusin' music.

So I tried to turn up my music louder and withheld a sigh when I found that the volume dial was as far up as it could physically go. I sat back to enjoy the scenery... which was mostly trees and houses every minute or so. The scenery here was even less interesting than the view we had around home. And I thought that was impossible.

About an hour and a half away from our hotel destination my batteries died! And to top it all off we were in the middle of the freakin' highway so there was nowhere to stop for me to get batteries.

Though I probably would have held onto my pride and not have asked them to stop in the first place.

Now all I had to look at were the cars speeding by us – on both sides of the highway… Mrs. Summers wasn't a speed-demon by any stretch of the imagination.

I sighed heavily and sat back; welcoming the comfort from sinking into the plush dark grey leather seats... did I mention that classical music makes me sleepy? And the seats in this car were heated.

Much to my dismay, I could feel my eyelids growing heavy, and it was becoming harder and harder to focus on the headlights of the passing cars. I fought valiantly to keep them open. I don't really like sleeping in front of strangers, I've always hated the idea of people watching me while I was asleep, the fact that I don't know them well just makes it worse. Despite my distrust, I laid across the back seat and tried to get as comfy as I possibly could, it's not like there was anything else for me to do. The two of them were too busy watching the highway to look back at me, I decided, sinking back even farther into the upholstery.

My shoulder length black and red hair fanned out over the seat and surrounded my face, hiding me from the rest of the world. I used my right arm as a semi-comfortable pillow and drifted back into the world of dreams where I could forget about all of this supposed mutant business. Right now my dreams were making more sense than reality, and seeing as how I dream of flying hamsters and saving the world with a magic pickle, the thought wasn't all too reassuring.

I was able to form one last coherent thought before drifting off to sleep.

How did I know that they weren't lying to me, and all of this was just a clever kidnapping plot?

Oh crap.

Ah well.

Sleep is calling.

"Marlee, Marlee wake up."

I was being violently shaken out of my deep slumber.

"Mmm…" I groaned in protest, "five more minutes."

"Marlee, wake up, we're here."

"Gram…I don't wanna go to school today…" I buried my head deeper into my… leather seat? That was most definitely not my bed. At that was definitely not my grandmother's voice.

I shot straight up in my seat to see Mrs. Summers smiling down at me, laughing at my actions.

"Welcome back to the land of the living."

I looked at her, though not actually 'seeing' her, blinked a couple of times and screamed in her face. She was just a little taken aback at that.

I stopped yelling after a second or two, realizing that I was not in any imminent danger. I tried to regain my composure. I had only yelled because she had startled me out of my nap, not because my dream about saving the world with the magic pickle had been going horribly wrong.

'I am such a loser,' I berated myself, wanting to smack myself repeatedly on the forehead with a heavy object. 'Who falls asleep in knowing exactly where they are and wakes up screaming because they were jolted out of a nightmare?'

"Remind me to get someone else to wake you up in the morning for school."

I raise an eyebrow at her, while inwardly, I was grinning snidely.

Who says I'm even going to make it to the school?

I'm out of this place tonight.

Man, how did I know there even WAS a school? I wasn't a mutant, these guys were crazy. I'm willing to take bets that they weren't even mutants. They certainly looked normal enough.

Well, Mrs. Summers might have been too perfect looking to be normal, but I hardly think that was a mutant ability.

If it was, let it be known that it was one I really wouldn't mind having.

This was all some strange conspiracy, all started by my grandmother to scare me into never leaving home. I just know it.

Denial you say?

Who? Me?

Well, it was settled, (in my mind at least…) there was no way in hell I was going there. I might have being a just little paranoid, but nothing was too far-fetched to me anymore.

By the time I had thought all of this, I must have had a grin on my face the size of the Cheshire cat's. I think Mrs. Summers must have noticed because she gave me the oddest look. It looked like an expression full of worry but it was in bad light so I was probably wrong.

She doesn't have anything to be worried about.

Yet anyway…

I stepped out of the car and into the rising moon light, Miss Munroe already had the trunk open and was handing the car keys to a car parker person, (so sue me if I can't remember their proper names…) the bellhops had already been in the trunk and were carrying my stuff upstairs to my home for the night.

"Are you coming, child?" Miss Munroe asked in her regal sounding accent, smiling warmly at me.

'Well I'm so not sleeping in the entrance way,' I rolled my eyes. "Yes, I'm coming."

Mrs. Summers gave me yet another look but this one was of amusement.

I shook my head. 'She's creeping me out…'

The pretty lady, the exotic pretty lady and boring, funny-haired me stepped into the giant hotel lobby. It must have been a very expensive place. I swear, just the lobby was bigger than our little house! I didn't know they even had places this big in Maine. I always figured that Maine was as quaint and tiny as home. There were crystal chandeliers sparkling from the vaulted ceiling, plush carpet under our feet and uniformed hotel people running about looking important.

Everything about the place screamed that snooty, rich people stay here.

Or, only people who are more important than you can cross our stuck up, money coming out our ass threshold without looking like a penguin slathering on sunscreen on the beaches of Palm Springs.

My imagination so scares me sometimes.

"Come on Marlee, up here," Mrs. Summers called to me from the waiting doors of the elevator. While I had been staring around in open-gaped wonder, Miss Munroe and Mrs. Summers had already signed the register and gotten the financial crap worked out with the stuck up looking desk clerk. I lagged behind at first, waiting to see if they'd yell at me to hurry up but they turned back to watch the numbers flash down on the elevator. When I reached them Mrs. Summers spoke up.

"You and Ororo will be sharing a room, Scott and I will be just across the hall. Bobby is two doors down."

Ororo, so _that's_ what her first name was. No one had said it since I had met them for the first time, and I'd was wondering still at how to pronounce it.

I think I might stick to Miss Munroe for a little bit longer…

The room that was to be mine and Miss Munroe's was a more than big enough for just two people who were only staying one night.

Geez, that Zaviour guy certainly had pulled out all the stops, hadn't he? Or was it Scott who was paying for all of this?

It came to more than a pretty penny I'm sure.

It had beige carpeted flooring in the entranceway, a gorgeous bathroom, complete with a tub that I could practically swim in, two king sized beds on either side of the sleeping area and a combination kitchen/bar and sitting area. I nodded my head in approval.

At least I'd be able to stock up on food before I broke out of there. So long as I could jimmy open the lock on the fridge. It shouldn't be too hard; I'd practiced jimmying things a lot at home when I had been bored.

Our luggage had been placed beside one of the many squishy looking armchairs that littered the sitting area. Miss Munroe opened her suitcase and started rooting around in it. I threw myself onto the bed, testing out the bounce-ability.

I'd give it a nine out of ten.

"You might want to get changed child."

"Changed?" I asked, finishing with a particularly wild bounce. "What the hell into?"

She ignored my language. I decided to watch my mouth; Miss Munroe was the coolest one out of the group, I shouldn't be swearing up and down – if I could help it. Mr and Mrs Summers were the ones I was going to go out of my way to annoy.

"You can't possibly believe you are to go to Chez Pierre's dressed like you are."

And I thought she was the cool one.

"What am I supposed to wear? Why don't I just stay here. I didn't bring anything fancy with me."

She arched an eyebrow at me.

"I'll see if I have a skirt…" I grumbled and started rooting through my bag.

I got changed very slowly, painfully slow in fact. If they were going to force me into this I was going to take my good ol' time. It's a time few and far between when I ever actually get dressed up all formal-like. My grandfather's funeral was the last time I had ever worn a dress – and that was over five years ago now. Plus, I was checking for the nearest fire escape to climb out of. There was one right beside the huge window right beside my bed.

Perfect.

"Marlee what is taking you so long?" Jean asked impatiently, knocking on the bathroom door.

"I'm knitting all my clothes, I'm almost done my underwear. Give me another decade or so and I'll have a full-length ball gown ready to go."

"Marlee…"

"I'm done."

I stepped out wearing a long black skirt and a black off the shoulder long sleeved shirt.

Mrs. Summers was wearing a deep burgundy color and Miss Munroe was wearing deep blue, they, of course, looked very nice. I looked like just what I was. A small town hick trying to pass off as a city girl. Mind you, I was a very angry small town hick at the moment. Mrs. Summers said I looked nice, though I was pretty sure she was just trying to be polite.

Scott and Bobby were going to meet us there they were off doing some kind of errand for the school, or something like that. A limo was waiting for us when we got to the entranceway.

I really didn't see the point of taking the limo. I mean… the restaurant was only fifteen minutes away. Surely we could have taken our own car, or even walked. Who in their right mind is going to come up and mug a pair of mutants walking around with a scowling sixteen-year-old?

True to their word, when we stepped out of the car there was Scott and Bobby waiting to escort us into this restaurant. Scott took Mrs. Summers arm, naturally, and Bobby, after a few attempts of trying to take both Miss Munroe and my own, he settled for just walking in the middle of us. I openly stared at the place, it was just as posh as the hotel.

Another place I didn't belong.

Now I'm two for two.

Man, I consider myself lucky when I'm able to eat at a normal fast-food place. Home didn't have anything even close to this.

"Table for five," Scott told the guy at the front desk. He looked up from his register, assessed our financial status with a quick flick of his eyes and put down his pen.

"Right this way, sir." We followed the guy – a portly short man with a slight sway in his step - to a table beside the window. I was facing the window, with Miss Munroe on my left and Bobby with his back to the window. Mrs. Summers and Scott were on my right. "This is Kevin, he will be your waiter this evening."

"Welcome to Chez Pierre's." Kevin smiled down at us and passed us our menus, as well as a glass of water and breadsticks for us to much on while we made our decision. He looked like the kid of rich guy who go fed up with his son just hanging out and spending his hard earned cash. My opinion of him slipped another notch when he didn't have enough menus to pass out, then he almost tripped over the feet of another customer, and then he couldn't find his pencil (he had it tucked behind his ear).

Just as I had expected, everything on the blasted menu was really expensive not to mention that half of it was in French! I had barely enough money on me to buy a side of coleslaw – or what I thought was coleslaw… And I don't even like the stuff.

Jean raised her eyebrow, "Dinner is on us tonight," she announced to the table.

A free meal too? They must be trying to buy me.

Ah well.

Free is my favorite number.

"Thank you," I said. I would choose something I recognized, and not obscenely expensive. I figure that's the nicest thing to do, 'course don't think that THAT'LL ever happen again.

Scott choked.

"On us?"

"Yes, Scott."

Mrs. Summers looked back at me and winked.

I put on my best 'you scare the hell out of me but thanks' grin.

"Alright!" Bobby smiled widely and searched the menu for the most expensive things that he could find; heedless of what it happened to be.

Miss Munroe just smiled good-naturedly and said thank you to Scott before going back to glancing over her menu.

Kevin came back a good fifteen minutes later, found his pencil now tucked behind his other ear and flipped open his little notebook, "What can I get for you?"

Scott, Jean and Ororo all ordered and if I could pronounce what they ordered I'd tell you. It didn't sound all that appetizing to me.

Kevin looked at me.

"Salad and a Pepsi," I deadpanned.

He grinned, showing perfectly even, white teeth. Damn the rich to hell. Well at least I know he won't screw up my order. And if he did… well… I wasn't that hungry.

"Mmm…Rabbit food…" Bobby chuckled, "I'll have…hmm… let's see I'll have the 'escargots'," The fool pronounced it 'ease-carg-oats'…

I giggled, and Kevin walked away.

Bobby looked at the four of us.

"Yep, I've just been dying for some ease-carg-oats, they've got to be better than snails though, whatever they are. I think they must be some high carb protein dish. With the 'oats' you see. You ever notice how a lot of the French words are the same in English? Like bouquet? This should be good, a growing boy needs his protein."

What an idiot.

Scott simply smiled, looking away from the rambling Bobby. Mrs. Summers and Miss Munroe hid their amusement behind their hands.

I openly laughed at him.

"What? What's so funny? Is there something on my face?"

Kevin arrived some time later with our plates of food, and set them before us. Bobby had borrowed Mrs. Summers compact and stared at his face until I was sure the mirror would crack. Apparently he didn't find anything wrong, because he crossed his arms and glared at us until the meal came.

Just as I was about to take the first bite of my salad there was a scream from the other side of the table.

"SNAILS? GROSS! Why didn't anyone tell me!" Bobby shoved his plate away, wiping the non-existent 'snail germs' from his fingers. I laughed at him again. Mrs. Summers offered him some of her fish (well, that's what it looked like anyway…) but he pouted and said he wasn't hungry. He grabbed a breadstick after a few minutes of watching us eat our own meals and began chewing moodily on it, vowing revenge for not telling him. His glare lingered on me for the longest, which didn't make much sense; you'd think he'd be angrier with the people he'd known longer…

It didn't matter to me. I wouldn't be around for him to take his out revenge on.

"You're going to have a lot of fun at the school, Marlee," Mrs Summers said as we were lingering over dessert. The rest of the conversation over dinner had been mostly centred around me learning stuff about the four of them, where they came from and all that jazz, about the only thing interesting that I learned was that Miss Munroe had actually been a tribal priestess kind of thing in Africa. My opinion of her climbed back up to where it had been before she made me wear a skirt. But now I guessed we were supposed to get down to business. I jabbed a fork into my strawberry cheesecake, if I ate quickly maybe they'd just finish eating and we could leave. "You'll have your own room and plenty of people around for you to talk to. There are plenty of people your age at the institute so there won't be any problem with you making new friends." She smiled reassuringly at me.

Sorry lady, but it's not the friends part that I'm worried about.

It's that whole mutant thing, duh.

I didn't want new friends; I wanted Amy and Kristy, some of the few people I could stand in the school. I wanted my little rural area back, boring trees packed full of annoying acorn-throwing squirrels and all.

"Of course you'll go to a regular school and take regular high school courses."

Oh no, I wouldn't.

"It's a very nice school, and it's only a few hundred people more than what were in your old school."

"Only?" I said, raising an eyebrow.

Before Jean could continue on Kevin arrived with the bill.

"Your bill, sir." He handed the piece of paper to Scott who in return handed Kevin a small pile of bills from his wallet. Scott cringed when he read the amount but gave the rich brat a nice tip anyway. Bobby glared as he watched Kevin take the offending plate of "ease-carg-oats."

"Marlee, child," Ororo asked after Kevin had wobbled away. I didn't answer for a moment, as I was preoccupied with watching our graceful waiter wobble his way towards the kitchens. Alas, poor Kevin must have not been having a good day because before he could even make it to the swinging doors for them to hit him in the face. Instead he was fated to collide with a tray of desserts that were being pushed in the direction of what I deduced were the _really_ rich people.

Dishes, desserts and Kevin went _every_where, and sent crashing to the ground with a truly magnificent and musical symphony of smashes, crashes and shattering china. The restaurant patrons were silent for a moment but went back to their business quickly without even acknowledging the act. I think Kevin was even more embarrassed that no one reacted to the incident.

What kind of place is this if no one even cheers when someone drops their trays?

Hmm…

I stood and looked over to where Kevin was hurriedly cleaning up the mess he made.

And started clapping.

Loudly.

That was when we beat a hasty retreat from Chez Pierre's.

No one really spoke on the return to the hotel, but Mrs. Summers kept giving me exasperated looks, obviously fed up with my bratty attitude. She was opening her mouth to say something when Miss Munroe asked me if I had any ideas of what my powers could be.

"No," I answered, shaking my head, my hair flew bobbing around as I did; I had quickly taken it down from its formal knot. "I don't have a clue," … because I don't have any powers. Jean gave me the raised eyebrow once again.

"Well we knew that," Bobby remarked, loosening his tie, "But we meant if you knew what your powers were."

"Shut it, French boy."

Bobby glared at me.

During the short ride back, I made note of the bank that was just five minutes away from the hotel. It had an ATM; so another stage of my plan would work.

When we arrived back at the hotel we wasted no time in clamoring into the elevator and then into our respective rooms.

"Good night, Marlee," Jean smiled.

"Good night," I smirked, 'and goodbye.'

I shut the door and went into the bathroom to pull on my pyjamas and went through all the normal motions of getting ready for bed. I crawled into my bed, relishing the soft, clean scent of the sheets and hugged my Care Bear tight. I turned to face the window and in its reflection I saw a miniature Miss Munroe pull back the covers of her own king size bed and flick off the lamp.

"Good night, Miss Munroe."

Evidently surprised that I was still awake, or that I was being pleasant, she called back a kind 'good night, child,' and before long her breathing evened out into a deep slumber.

She had been pretty cool, for an adult anyway. I think I might miss getting to know her.

"Goodbye…" I whispered into my Care Bear. "I'm coming home Gram. I don't belong with these people."

I had set the alarm on my digital watch to go off near 3:00 in the morning, hopefully by then even Scott would be fast asleep.

I was all set to go; my stuff was all still packed so I didn't have to worry about gathering it all up. When the time came, all I would have to do was pull on a pair of jeans, my jacket, grab my crap and run. Hopefully Miss Munroe was a sound sleeper, but I wasn't even too worried about that, I could be pretty stealthy if I had to.

I woke up before my alarm went off. It was still a few minutes away from 3:00, and if the annoying beeping of my watch hadn't woken me up, I wondered what had roused me from my nap. I lay still and heard Miss Munroe get up, quickly change in the bathroom and go out the door. Intrigued, I threw back the covers and slip out of bed, I pressed my ear against the door to try and find out what was going on.

Then I heard Mrs. Summer's voice saying something in an urgent whisper.

"Watch her Bobby, do not let her out of your sight. She's cleverer than what she lets on. I've already told you her plans."

How did she know my plans?

"Don't let her out of your sight Bobby, or else I'll make sure you have extra training sessions with Logan in the Danger room."

Danger room sessions? Definitely glad that I wasn't going to be going to their school.

Wait, they were going somewhere and getting **him** to baby-sit **me**? Honestly, they aren't giving me enough credit. This is going to be way too easy.

"If she goes missing Drake, you do too," Scott spoke in a dangerous tone. I cringed, relieved that I wasn't on the receiving end of that order. Scott was an obvious leader, though it seemed the severity of the situation slid off Bobby.

"Yes, sir," Bobby replied in a mock military voice. "I will not let her out of my sight, Sir!"

"I'm not joking, Drake."

"Yes, I know, Scotter."

I could almost hear Scott's eyes roll.

I heard the three adults (Bobby was too stupid to be classified as an adult) exit the suite, presumably to book it downstairs and into the super car on whatever important errand they had to run in the early morning, and then heard Bobby mock Mrs. Summers in a high-pitched imitation of her voice, "watch her Drake. She's soooo clever… _Pssht,_ yeah right. The day she gets by the Iceman is the day I dress up as a woman and pass my number out in the red light district."

Hmm…

I climbed out of my bed and got a little bottle of something I snagged from Gram just before I left.

Underestimate me will you? I giggled madly at my plot. There had been a slight change of plans, but it was only getting better now.

Poor, poor Bobby, he has no idea of what they were getting him into.

Nico-Ru and best friend beta reader Satori B here! There you go everyone, sorry it's been awhile but it was hard going for awhile, computer's crashing, angry parentals, and going away for spring break. So just for all of you, this chapter was pretty long. Keep on the look out for the next chapter, you DON'T want to miss it! Trust me ;)


	4. Search and Rescue

_**Chapter Four** _

_Search and Rescue_

We do not own X-men or anything else in here that you may recognize. Satori does, however, own 2 drooling rabbits.

* * *

I think it was just after 4:00 when I fell back asleep, Bobby had been pacing back and forth in front of my door, I could see his shadow travel across the back wall. He kept muttering about having to baby-sit me when he could have gone to help. He thought they could have just locked me up in the room until they got back. 'Cha right.

If the lot of them were gone I'd be out of here as soon as you can say 'lock pick.'

I kept running my plan though my head, ensuring that my departure would be quick, painless (for me anyway…) and memorable.

I was pretty damn sure that I'd fully covered the last bit.

They weren't going to forget me anytime soon. And it was likely that Bobby would have to go to therapy once I was really done with him. Some things are just too much fun to do only half-assed. And this was one of them.

My plans might have been a few hours delayed, but the amusement factor was going to increase tenfold.

And now I would get a little more sleep…

Ah… sleep.

* * *

Beep… beep… beep… beep… beep

"Ugh…" I shut off my alarm, it was 8:00. In the morning. "Double ugh…"

I cracked a weary eye open and blearily gazed about the room. From the lack of a sleeping body in Miss Munroe's bed, they hadn't yet returned from whatever emergency errand they had to run at 3:00 in the morning. I hadn't intended on sleeping for so long. I guess that when I had been resetting my alarm I had added a few hours… Not a difficult thing to do, seeing as how I had to do it nearly blind… But seeing as how they still weren't back… my plan could go on as scheduled. Now I was stuck with Tweedle Dum.

Hooray for me.

I threw back my covers and rubbed the sleep from my eyes. A task harder than it should have been I tell you now.

Damn I was tired.

I walked out into the kitchen/bar, which had been rid of all alcoholic beverages, prior to our arrival, and poured a glass of orange juice. Just as I had been sitting down to flick through the channels and watch some quality early morning television. (I use the term 'quality' loosely…) Bobby walked out of the bathroom, still in his Snoopy boxers might I add? What a pig.

"Morning ki…ahhhh!" he screamed, covering his eyes and turning away from me. "What's wrong with your face?"

I lifted a hand to my face to see what the matter was with it.

Bobby smirked.

"I guess it's true what they say… Make-up _does_ do wonders," I slammed my empty glass down and shot him my meanest glare. "I just never realized how effectively it can cover-"

"Shove it!" I said, cutting into whatever lame insult he was going to throw at me. He made this pathetic false hurt face and walked over to the couch where I was sitting. Without even waiting for me to move out of the way, he threw himself down on the cushions. I yelped and dodged his feet as they settled where I had been sitting.

Another glare.

"What'cha watching?" he asked.

I glared at him again. He didn't even notice.

What's wrong with these people? Even my old teachers would look away if I glared at them. Hell, loads of my classmates scurried away if I was glaring, even if it wasn't directed at them.

Why didn't it work on this fool?

"Nothing," I chucked the remote at him and went to gather my clothes for a shower. As I rummaged through my clothing I secured my little secret weapon to escape in my make-up bag, Frenchy over there wouldn't ever think to look in it. I grinned, this was going to be too fun. I walked into the bathroom and locked the door. How was I to know if he was pervo or not…even though I strongly suspected that he was, after all he was a twenty year old male. I showered rather quickly or quicker then I usually would anyways, I mean I did have to be out of there before Miss Munroe, Scott and Jean came back, because after that there was no escape. Or at least not an easy and inexpensive one. I pulled a hoody over my t-shirt and put my little surprise in its pocket. I unlocked the bathroom door and neatly put my stuff away.

"So…" I went and sat on the opposite end of the couch "what are you watching?"

Oh my God. He was watching MTV…and they were playing 50 cent…ugh.

"MTV…it's one of my favourite songs it's called 'Candy Shop,'" he said in what must have been his 'cool voice' "You know I can bust quite the rhyme."

I tried so hard not to roll my eyes and laugh, but if I was going to get any good info out of him I had to be nice…

"Wow Bobby, really?" I said looking at him.

"Yeah," he grinned, "wanna hear one?"

"Maybe later, so tell me about your self I want to know everything," he looked at me in surprise and then directed his attention back to the television.

Jeez, this was going to be no problem…

"What do you want to know?"

And so it began the multiple but pointless questions

"Umm… what's your favourite color?"

"Where are you from?"

"Oh yeah, I hear it's really nice there…"

"Where's the nearest bus station around here?"

"Who's your favourite singer?"

"What brand of sneaker do you like?"

"How much is bus fare?"

"I never noticed how nice your smile is, have you had dental work done?"

"They really did a good job…"

"How do the prices of the bus compare to those of the trains?"

"Uh huh…really?"

"Plain or nutty M&M's?"

"Oh, me too…"

"Pink or purple?"

"Wow, I had you pinned as a purple man myself…"

"So the nearest train station is where?"

"Wow, all of that talking made me really thirsty, I'm going to grab something to drink. Do you want one?" I smiled innocently at him; poor fool had no idea what he was in for.

"Sure, Pepsi's fine," he answered, not looking away from yet another black rapping guy dancing around with barely clothed women.

Sigh. All guys are perverts…

I walked over to the cupboard and grabbed two glasses and filled them each with the dark soda. Then, as cautiously and quietly as I could, I took out the little plastic prescription bottle I had swiped from Gram's overflowing medicine cabinet. Despite her being in near perfect health for a woman her age, it didn't stop her from stocking up on all the vitamin pills, high blood pressure prevention pills and whatever she could get her hands on. She was a bit paranoid in that department. Not to mention that she always wanted to have me in perfect health.

Do I need to go into detail about all of the damn health shakes she would try to force down my throat every morning?

Anyway… My choice weapon of the day was a few extra-strength sleeping pills. Gram had switched to a new favourite brand of sleeping pills a few weeks ago, and must have forgotten that these beauties were still hiding up on the shelves. I shrugged to myself and glanced at the directions on the outside of the pill bottle. 'Take fifteen minutes prior to lying down. Do NOT take more then two pills at a time. Doing so could result in-'

Hmmm… The rest of the label had worn away…

I shrugged again.

I carefully and silently as possible opened the container and slipped two of the little white pills into Bobby's drink. Then, thinking about my escape plan, I decided I might need a bit more time to get sufficiently away from these nutters.

In went the last two wonderful pills.

Heh heh…

"What's taking you so long?" came Mr. Obnoxious' voice over the musical strains of some strange sound the media was calling music.

"Umm… the bottle was flat, I needed to find a new one."

"Oh, all right."

What an idiot.

I popped the cover back on and buried the evidence into the trash underneath the sink. They would never suspect it under there after all… I put the rest of the pop away and by the time I had brought Bobby his pop, the pills had completely dissolved. I handed him his glass as I sat down and preoccupied myself with staring through the television screen (which was, at the moment showing an advertisement featuring a dancing guy in a rubber costume…) and, slowly sipping on my drink, waited for him to drop. He gulped his down and for a minute it seemed like it had no effect on him. Five minutes later though…

"Weird…I'm getting kind of sleepy," he looked at me and yawned.

"You did have a long day yesterday…."

"You're right," he yawned again, "I… did…" he leaned back and then went limp.

Hmm… I suppose that when you double the dose, it works twice as fast. Too bad I hadn't had anymore of the pills. Then I wouldn't have had to watch any of that damn station…

No, I wouldn't have killed the poor boy. It just wouldn't have done to kill the fool. It was much more rewarding to think about him waking up and realizing I had put one over on him.

I packed my stuff all up and placed it beside the door. I made sure that I raided the mini bar in mine and Miss Munroe's room (and the other's too…) and took all of the other complimentary gifts the hotel people had left for us.

Free is my favourite number.

I was all ready to go… except there was one last thing I had to do.

I looked over to the couch where Mr. Obnoxious was snoring loudly. A trail of drool was making its way down his chin.

The picture of innocence.

Heh heh heh… Until I was done with him of course.

I took out a bright red wig I had worn my first Halloween with Amy and Kristy. Even though I hated giving it up, it was well worth it for the laugh I would get out of it. I also took out my camera complete with a full roll of film, and the business card Scott had given me the day they had approached me at home. Sure enough, the school number was on there as well as Scott's, Mrs Summers', Miss Munroe's and… Bobby's cell number. Perfect.

I tucked it back into my pocket for later.

I then walked over to Miss Munroe's suitcase and, hoping that the calm woman wouldn't overly mind me going through her stuff, uncovered a slightly revealing light pink, off the shoulder top, a knee-length black skirt, some strappy black heels and her make-up bag.

"Now…what was it you said earlier this morning?" I wondered out loud, dropping my supplies at the drooling man's feet. "Oh yes… I remember now… You were mocking Jean and then said, 'The day she gets by the Iceman is the day I dress up as a woman and pass my number out in the red light district.' …Well, well, well Robert - or Roberta, I should say. Today's your lucky day. You're going to make a lot of people very happy." I grinned, "That is, a lot of guys really happy…" and began my mission. The skirt went on first, which was a task way easier said than done.

He may look pretty buff but he still weighs a friggin' ton.

Then the shirt went on. He was looking pretty impressive by the time I had added the wig, but there was still something missing. All I had left now were the shoes… damn! They didn't fit! That was a disappointment, but who was I _kidding_? The boy had some monster feet – not to mention some kind of strange odour coming from them – it was almost cruel to think that Miss Munroe's beautiful shoes would fit on his big clunkers. Now it was time to get him into make-up. I bet you're thinking, 'did I make him look trashy?'

You're damn right I did.

Teach him to underestimate me…

I positioned him into a few suggestive poses that would undoubtedly be more appealing to the people who were into that sort of thing and snapped a dozen or so photos. I grabbed my book bag in which I had managed to stuff at least three quarters of my stuff into, the rest of it was in another smaller bag I had slung over my shoulder. I swung open the door with just one look back at 'Roberta' sleeping very peacefully. I can just imagine how pissed he was going to be when he woke up.

But his torture didn't stop there.

Maybe I was pushing it a little, but I had snagged the key to his room from where it had been carelessly flung on his bedside table and hid all of his clothes, leaving a few of Mrs Summers and Miss Munroe's delicates in their place.

I washed my hands after that. I didn't think that they were dirty, but it was weird all the same. 'Course that's the price us truly masterful pranksters have to pay.

I left a small note on the bed in his room.

'_Good luck- you'll need it more then I do. _

_Have fun Roberta. Pity I won't be around to see your reaction, guess I'll just have to deal with it. Have a nice life, I know mine'll be great – no mutant school for me! Say 'bye to Scott and the girls._

_I'm not one of you guys Bobby, sorry._

_Well, not really, but it seemed like the thing to say._

_See ya,_

_Marlee_

_P.S. Pink is so totally your color, girlfriend.'_

I was practically skipping down the halls and into the elevator. I got off at the bottom floor and pushed through the doors never to look back again.

"Good bye," I said to the posh building, "and good fuckin' riddance." Then, with a definite spring in my step, I walked down to where I had seen the ATM the night before. I got twenty dollars knowing that it wasn't a very good idea to keep a whole lot of money on me on such a strange place. I mean, it might be Maine, but there were still weird people around. I tucked the bill away inside my wallet and continued to the nearest bus station. My plan wasn't very elaborate, but I was sure it would work. I would continue to ride the bus until I got to the border then I would board the ferry to cross over and then bus or hitchhike home – whatever it took.

'I'm on my way home Gram, it's a promise.' I thought with feeling.

* * *

As I made my way to the bus station, I had a bit of time to think about my situation. I knew without a doubt that I didn't want to go with those crazy people, but…

What if…

What if they were right?

I don't want to be – nor do I actually believe I am – a mutant. But it would explain why I always felt a bit out of step with the rest of the world. I don't have powers… But I just feel so… different.

Whatever. I'm so not thinking right. I'm just tired.

Or scared, I mean – public transportation? It's like the grossest thing in the world. Do we really ever know what people have done on those bus seats? Or the last time they were cleaned? Now there's a full body shudder for you.

I stopped into a store to buy some batteries and to make change for bus fare and waited at bus stop number 22. Since I had no idea when it came, I made myself cozy on the little plastic bench, (making sure I wasn't sitting in any gum or anything else just as disgusting) put on my headphones and waited.

And waited.

And just for good measure, I waited some more…

When I finally heard the telltale rumbling of a public bus, it was nearing 11:00. Jean and them had to be back by now. And probably still trying to wake up Bobby. I laughed to myself; it would take more than a bucket of water in his face to wake him up after the four sleeping pills. The bus screeched to a halt a few meters away from the stop. Gathering up my stuff, I paid my fare and boarded the bus. The bus driver paid me no heed as I dropped my change into the meter. The guy looked like the saddest thing in the world. I'm serious, he had really thin, stringy hair, a squished up face, and beyond blue, watery eyes. It looked like one misplaced word would send him into tears.

I sat in the back all by myself with nothing but my Pantera mp3 and the occasional odd sound coming from the bus engine to listen to. The scenery here was different than the drive up; there were small shops all squished together along the road with colourful displays and interesting things crowding the picture windows, people talking amongst each other in the street, drinking coffee and leaning out their car windows talking to the people in the car next over, and unusual but beautiful houses. Far more interesting than home, I'll admit, but really, that's not a hard thing to accomplish. Even so, I'd still rather my boring little community.

When the last stop finally came I had made it through my mp3 one and a half times. It was a really long ride, as it was a pretty damn long mp3. I was the last person off the bus, and that was only because the driver had stared at me at the last stop until I was creeped out enough to grab my stuff and book it out of there. Mind you, it was the end of his route, so I would have been doubling back on my trail… The final stop was in a quaint (can't believe I used that word…) little town, a lot smaller than the place we had stayed last night. There were no posh French restaurants here, just a little café and a corner store coupled with a Starbucks and a McDonalds, of course.

As I walked down the street I realized something; I hadn't a bloody clue where in the hell I was. And that I was hungry. It was past four now and I hadn't eaten breakfast; my stomach was justified in making its emptiness known. But I just continued to walk, the people I passed on the street and driving along in their cars looked at me as if I had some sort of contagious disease. I recognized the situation. In a smallish town like this, everyone knows one another, not to mention their business. When an outsider like myself walked into town looking like a lost puppy, everyone knew within minutes. That sort of thing didn't happen in the city, it happens around home often enough too. It's just not the same having it happen to you.

Man, there I go again, mentioning home. I just can't make things easy for myself can I?

I paused to look in the window of a crystal shop to hide my brooding. I want to go home… The crystal was nice though, I especially liked the figurine they had of an old lady walking her dog. No, it wasn't because it reminded me of my grandmother, she hated the things. It was funny because it was this old, bent over woman walking a huge ass German Shepard. While I was staring at the crystal figures, all of a sudden, they started to loose their sparkle.

'What the hell?' I turned around, puzzled, then realized it had been because of the steadily increasing amount of black clouds that were darkening the afternoon sky.

"Great…" I muttered, "That is SO just what I didn't need…" Taking one last look at the figurines, I pulled my jacket more closely around me and continued walking in the direction away from the bus stop, kicking random pieces of garbage to temporarily amuse myself. People moved out of my way as I came close to them, must be my look of extreme happiness that made them change their mind about saying hello.

"Marlee!"

What the hell?

"Marlee!"

Someone was calling to me? How would they know me? I wasn't wearing my personalized backpack that Grandma gave me, I threw that in a dumpster the first time she made me wear it and said I was mugged.

"Marlee!"

That was Miss Munroe's voice but she… I looked all around and didn't see her. I must be hearing things. I started to walk a little bit faster, hoping to outrun the voices in my head.

"Marlee, stop!"

That was Mrs. Summers, this time there was no mistaking it, and still there was no sign of either of them. The townspeople looked at me oddly, though to see a teenager carrying what looked to be all she owned in a few backpacks twirling about like a madwoman, I can't say that I really blame them.

"_Marlee_!"

That was definitely Mrs. Summers, and she had a 'this is getting old' tone of voice that I didn't want to mess with.

That was about the time I took off into a full out run.

I was running blindly, looking back over my shoulder to see if either of the two women were behind me when I ran into something and was knocked flat on my ass.

I looked up. I had run into a massive wall of ice.

Ice? Okay.

"Kid."

'Ah shit,' I cursed mentally.

There was Bobby looking smug as ever, but very, very pissed off, glaring down at me from atop his ice tower.

"What the hell is going on?" I cry out, still on the pavement looking up at Bobby's form being silhouetted against the sun. It was an interesting sight, but I was terrified. Ice towers just don't appear in the middle of the street, and normal people don't climb up on top of them. Not to mention the voices I heard had to have been Mrs. Summers and Miss Munroe. If Roberta was here, the others had to be.

I was in deep shit.

"You are so going to get it," he called down at me.

Major deep shit.

"Iceman, calm down," Scott said, walking up on my right-hand side.

"Come on Cykes, you seen what she did to me…" Bobby whined. Scott just half-smiled beneath his visor, while still trying to look intimidating.

Scott looked over to me, the smile now gone so completely from his face I doubted it had been there at all. "You are in so much trouble," he said grimly.

Gathering my courage, I stood up and brushed the dirt off my butt, hoping there had been no bubblegum spat onto the sidewalk where my ass had been residing.

These people really are mutants, or Bobby is at least… Wouldn't he be? What if he was using some sort of projector to make it look like he was on top of the ice tower? They could all still be normal; it could still be a hoax…

Then Mrs. Summers and Miss Munroe entered the picture.

They were flying.

Well, there goes that idea.

Within seconds they landed beside me, I was cornered. On one side there was a huge ice tower, another a grim looking buff guy with queer looking sunglasses, then the two flying women looking just as grim as Scott, except without the whole bouncer intimidation thing going on.

I looked around hoping against hope that **some**one would see this, classify it as child abuse and would rescue me. But they were all frozen, not in ice but like mannequins in a store window.

What had they done to them?

"Marlee, just calm down," Mrs. Summers said, inching towards me slowly, "we're here to help you if only you'll just come back with us."

"No! No! I won't… I… this is all a test…a lesson… yeah, that's it… Gram is trying to teach me a lesson, the ice wall's just a movie prop, the frozen people are all extras paid to stand impossibly still … You're… It's all like a magic trick. And since I figured it out, I pass. I get to go home now. I'm willing to bet none of you are more than bad B-movie actors between gigs."

"We've all experienced what you're going through child," Miss Munroe said, trying to ease my ramblings, "let us help you, you will learn to accept it in time."

"Accept what?" I cried out. "I'm not one of you. You're not even mutants yourself." Yep, here's denial at it's best. And here I go making a blathering fool of myself, yet again.

I snapped.

"Prove it! Prove that you are mutants! Let's see these wondrous powers! And while you're at it, show me mine, since you're all so dead set that I have some bloody powers too! I want to see it! Show me! Show the whole friggin' world, why don't you?"

The quartet all exchanged significant looks while I was breathing in deeply, to get a hold of myself. It wasn't going too well, I'll tell you that.

"Alright then," Scott said, and nodded up to Bobby.

Bobby, while standing at the top of the ice tower, turned his body into ice and then created another ice tower right beside the first one. I could reach out and touch it.

It was real, and cold to the touch.

Seeing some movement out of the corner of my eye I could see Scott lift a hand to his sunglasses and touch the side of them. Suddenly a huge ass, bright red light shot from his eyes, turning Bobby's second tower into a pile of ice cubes.

Miss Munroe's eyes turned white and she held her hands out over her head. As I watched, not able to breathe, all of the clouds above us cleared and the sun shone through, sending a welcome warmth though my weakened body, but still not enough to get me over my fear and shock.

That's not what creeped me out the most either. That privilege belonged to Mrs. Summers. She looked at one of the frozen people who had been walking along with a bad of groceries in his hand before all of this craziness happened, pointed her finger at him and the man started to float right off the ground. Then, with another wave of her finger, she set him down in the same place he had been before, not a thing spilt out of his bag.

My eyes grew wide and I fell back against the large brick building behind me.

"You're one of us child, we're sure of it," Miss Munroe said softly.

"I am not one of you!" I screamed, "I refuse to be! I don't want to be a freak! … It's not possible! I don't have any powers!"

The sky started to darken once more, this time great storm clouds were collecting over the street.

"I'm already treated like a freak, I don't need any of this!" They all just looked at me nervously and the clouds darkened even more so, "I don't want to go to that school…"

A loud peal of thunder rumbled throughout the town.

"Why the nine hells do you think I tried to leave? I want to go to MY home, I don't want to meet new people or go to a new school…!"

"Marlee…calm down," Scott was trying to get me to stop, but over the thunder and my own cries I could hardly hear his pleas. Flashes of lightning lit the sky, turning the scene even more surreal.

"Marlee," Mrs. Summers stepped towards me. "Let us help you," she smiled down at me.

I glared up at her resentfully. "I don't want your help. I don't need your help," I mumbled.

She placed her hand on mine and tried to help me stand up off the wall.

"No! Don't… touch… me!" I snatched my hand away from hers. I fell to the ground; I covered my head in my hands and started to cry.

I figure it was from emotional stress, if you had been in my position you'd probably do the same thing.

A few seconds after the first hot tear ran down my cheek, I felt something fall on my head. Looking up I saw the rain start pouring down; looking like the heavens had just decided to start crying with me.

I looked up to Mrs. Summers, fear apparent in my eyes; she looked down at me sympathetically.

No…

No…

It wasn't true…

I wasn't one of them…

I felt another warm tear escape my eye and the heaven opened up with unrestrained sadness.

My head fell forward on my lap and I continued sobbing until there was nothing left in me.

The rain had always been my companion though my pain. I guess it's only right that it be the cause of some of it too.

With one last deep gulp of air I gathered what little strength I had left in me and pulled myself to my feet. I was soaked, cold and pathetic. I weakly tried to pull my sopping jacket closer to my still trembling frame, but the act was pointless. The soaked piece of fabric would offer me no protection from the weakly falling rain. I felt something dry go round my shoulders.

Glancing up, I see the familiar blue colour of Miss Munroe's jacket. She was standing beside me with that same comforting expression on her face, the same one she had been wearing while I had been screaming at them minutes before. A guiding, yet gentle hand on my shoulder followed the jacket.

"Come child," Miss Munroe said, smiling down at me, "let's go back to the hotel, so you can get warmed up. We are expected back at the school, the invitation still stands for your enrolment if you are interested."

I sighed in defeat.

"Fine," I almost whispered, "I'll go," and the clouds above us started to clear, letting the weak beams of sunshine though. It wasn't to show my happiness, just my relief that a decision had been made.

During the short walk to two parked taxicabs Mrs. Summers had somehow procured for the five of us, Bobby gave me an evil grin. I took it as an "I will so get you back for the hell you gave to me" look. The thought that he didn't know I took pictures reassured me that I would have some retaliation ahead of time. I've got many a plan for Miss Roberta.

I might not be happy that I was going to the school, or that I was a mutant, or that I would have to wait even longer to go home, but at least now I knew they had been telling the truth – and while that wasn't an especially cheerful thought, it was better than nothing.

Scott, Mrs. Summers and I climbed into the first taxi, with Mrs. Summers and myself in the back. I wanted to put my music on, but lacked the energy.

More public transportation… gross…

"Some weird weather we're having isn't it? What with that crazy thunder storm and all, must have lasted about ten minutes and then cleared right up, now look at it, sun like nothing even happened," the driver rambled on, trying to make light conversation. Lucky for him, the dimwit chose the worst possible topic.

"Yeah, weird," Scott replied, glancing back at me in the side mirror.

"You have no idea," I muttered quietly, so that Mrs. Summers and Scott were the only ones who could hear me. Mr. Taxicab Man was still going on about the strange weather patterns and what was going to happen next.

"Just wait 'till I get really pissed."

* * *

End chapter four!

Thanks for the wonderful reviews everyone! It makes us so happy to get them! 'Till next time!

Nico-Ru and Satori B.


	5. Black Bird

A/N: Heys! I'm back again and this chapter is going to be super wicked. I hope you've liked the story so far and you will continue reviewing! If you haven't reviewed me yet click that little button. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed me so far and an especially big thank you to my ever so dedicated reviewer "leaslie" and my beta reader Satori B.

Sorry for the delay in getting chapters out… heh heh. I've had cadet stuff and exams and stuff that had to come first! Cowers I'm sorry! I'm hoping to get chapter six up and good to go before I leave for summer camps. So come September I'll hopefully be a little more regular with the updating!

* * *

**_Chapter Five_**  
_Black Bird__

* * *

_

It's official. I am now the world's biggest loser.

I feel so stupid – even worse than stupid – I am the thickest, densest, most brainless moron to ever walk this earth.

All this time…

I've always known I was different. That was why I never quite fit in with anyone. Sure, I had friends, but we weren't exceptionally close. We'd hang out at school, but we didn't really do anything together. I'd never be one to go out to the mall and just hang with friends. I wish I could have, but I'd never felt a real connection to the people at school.

Now I finally know why.

How could I have not noticed that the weather fluctuated when I was sad or angry? I mean, it's not as if it's that hard to see.

Oh look, I'm sad and it's raining, isn't it funny how that ALWAYS happens? Or, oh look, I'm really, really pissed off. How ironic is it that there's a big ass thunderstorm going on?

How could I have not seen that?

I am so blind!

For saying that I am so observant, and think outside the box, I sure don't notice a whole lot. Maybe its just selected sight, like Gram has selective hearing.

All my life I've simply accepted things as they were and never really given much thought to what else might be going on. Delving beneath the surface has never really interested me – I was happy with what I had, what if I found out something I didn't want to know?

Why bother, right?

Well, I guess that was a stupid way to look at it.

That's it. No more obliviousness. No more ignoring things staring me straight in the face…

I am Marlee Hyson also known as the world's biggest idiot and I have just come to accept I am a mutant.

Though 'accept' probably isn't the word that I want to use. More like 'I have just come to grips that I am a mutant.' I don't have to like it, but I'm through being stupid.

Now, how does one stop being a mutant?…

I need a psychiatrist. Can you say therapy group? "Hi, my name is Marlee and I have a problem."

Anyway, moving off the self-pity track…

Here I am in the back of a taxicab being taken back to my 'holding cell' consisting of the swanky hotel room I left Roberta to mind a few hours ago. I have just committed the most awesome "break out" ever, and I am so getting in major trouble for all the confusion I've caused. After we get back to the hotel to gather up our stuff, I'm being shipped off to this school for mutants like me, where I expect to be the talk of the school after my adventure today.

You know how they say - you can only make one first impression?

Well, I had definitely made mine. Now we can only hope for two things. That the rest of the year is an interesting as these last few hours, and that if is just as exciting – that I manage to live through the chaos.

Scott paid the talkative driver, who took off as soon as we had all cleared the curb he took off like a bat out of hell. Obviously, our silence to his chattering had seriously unnerved him. Soon enough Scott met us in the lobby where all our bags were waiting.

Hmm… Maybe if someone else packed it, I wouldn't forget anything.

No one said a word to me, or to each other really, it was an awkward, scary silence caused, I knew, by my little excursion. Did I feel bad? Nah, I was more embarrassed that they had managed to catch me so easily, really.

The valet pulled up with Scott's sleek black car and loaded our numerous bags into the tiny trunk. I sighed a heavy, drawn out sigh and got in the back. Miss Munroe sat in the middle. Bobby was still angry with me and refused to even look at me unless he had to. So there was little surprise in the fact that he made Miss Munroe take the middle. He squished in beside Miss Munroe. Mrs. Summers shared an exasperated look with Miss Munroe I'm pretty sure I wasn't supposed to see, and slid into the front passenger side. Scott got in the driver's seat and off we went on adventures untold…

Sorry, but I had to add some excitement. I like to think that something fun and interesting is going to happen on these insanely long car rides. With this grim carload, one can only hope.

I think all this awkward silence is supposed to make me feel guilty for making them worry. Or at least apologize for running away and getting Bobby in trouble. I suppose I _could_ apologize… but only after they tell me how they knew I was a mutant.

That seems like a fair exchange. Did I mention that I don't do guilt trips very well?

For lack of anything better to do, I looked out the window and tried to soak up some of the ever so interesting scenery. It was better than seeing everyone's angry faces in the corner of my eye.

We were still travelling through fairly inhabited areas. The houses were quaint, they reminded me of a touristy place, where people who have nothing better to do knock on people's doors asking them questions about their old houses. I wouldn't mind living in a place like this actually. It wasn't too crowded, and the houses were spaced out enough that I wouldn't feel like my neighbours were trying to look in my windows. As we passed by another old-fashioned place, I saw an old man sitting in a rocking chair on his porch; he looked up at me and smiled slowly before going back to his newspaper.

Before I could get a better look at him, we had passed him by.

'Strange old man…' I thought, though I allowed myself a tiny grin. 'It's nice to know that there are still people out there who don't hate strangers on sight.' I glanced back to the interior of the car… still as silent as the grave.

At least there's no classical music this time…

It was very unsettling. It's hard to believe I had caused all of this in a day… just imagine what I could do in a week…

Okay let's _not_ think about that after all…

* * *

I sighed for what must have been the fiftieth time in half an hour, not one person had said a word and I was bored out of my skull.

I tried to sing all the Disney songs I knew (in my head that is…), but the atmosphere was just wrong for that. Then I tried to sing all the sad songs, then angry then I tried the Disney ones again. No matter what it was that I was trying to listen to in my head, I was too distracted by the complete silence in the car.

'Well this bites…' I thought to myself.

'And whose fault is that?' a voice in my head chided me.

'Get out of my head!' I yelled back involuntarily. There was no answer, so I guessed she did what I told her to. Mrs. Summers glanced back at me in the rear view mirror, an innocent smirk on her face. I pouted. Damn telepaths…

A few minutes passed by with me staring out the window aimlessly – again. Because of my utter focus I immediately noticed when Scott turned us left instead of right. We were supposed to go right… The right way was the right way to go... Forgive me if I seem a bit panicked, but you must understand that at this moment, no one in the car was very happy with me. What if they were taking me somewhere to…

Shit.

I had read the road signs, seeing as how I had nothing better to do… - we were supposed to turn the other way! Instead, we pulled off onto an old, beat up, dirt road that looked like it hadn't been used in decades, let alone would Scott's fancy car be able to get through it. Somehow it managed.

I was so bloody confused. After a few minutes of bumpy roads and expecting a large animal to come out of the surrounding woods and dash in front of us, we came to a stop in the middle of a huge empty field. And when I say huge, I mean, really, really huge. Like wondering who would put a huge field here and not do anything with it huge. Then my eyes landed on the big, black, shiny jet at the end of the field.

"No… friggen… way…!" I yelled as the massive beast started making funny noises. "I am NOT getting in that… that… THING!" Heights and I have an unspoken agreement. We don't bother interacting anymore… not since that incident on the Ferris wheel…

I think that it was safe to say that the silence had been broken.

"Marlee, don't be difficult, just get into the plane."

If Scott thought he could talk me into this, he was insane.

"Come on kid, don't you think that you've caused enough trouble today?" Bobby said darkly, folding his arms across his chest. I looked closely at him.

"Hey Roberta, you got some lipstick on your teeth."

That was enough to make him shut up. He turned red and started rubbing madly at his mouth. There's one person down.

He did have a point, after all the trouble I've caused them, I should have just relented, bit the bullet and got onto the flying death trap, but I was in no way going to be that nice.

"Come on Marlee, it's only a forty-five minute flight," Mrs. Summers was using her 'nice' voice again. You know the one where you're being asked nicely to do something but there's an underlying hint of a threat? That was the voice.

"Pffft! No way. Why can't we just drive?"

"Marlee child," It was Miss Munroe's turn I guess. "Please co-operate with us, soon you will be with people your own age." Gotta love Miss Munroe for trying.

"There's nothing you can say that will get me on that thing…"

* * *

Ten minutes later…

* * *

Scowling and glaring at anything that dared address me I slumped back into my leather seat in the back of the 'Black Bird'.

I was forced onto the jet against my will. Well, more like they said that once they dragged me onto the thing they would take away any phone, tv and computer privileges I had, as well as ground me from leaving the premises for a month, and (the killer I assure you) I would be given kitchen duty.

It was then that I reluctantly consented. Then Bobby tackled me and literally carried me kicking and screaming into my seat and strapped me in with what they like to call the 'Child Safety Lock'.

Curse you whom ever invented that.

"Every one buckle in," Scott called from the cockpit. Yeah, yeah, very funny. Done that…

"Take off commencing," Scott continued. With each passing moment I felt my knuckles grip the armrests harder and harder. He sent the Black Bird hurtling down the impromptu runway. When I thought we were surely going to run into the line of trees at the end of the field, he pulled the nose back and we smoothly lifted into the sky. I was flying.

Oh joy. My stomach cheered with me, though the feeling was definitely not a pleasant one. Not to mention the sensation of my ears popping as the pressure inside the cabin decreased.

I cringed as the plane bumped a little as it drew in its landing gear up inside and began to gain height.

Well… now that the hard part was over – so long as I don't look out the window… - I might as well make the best of this little adventure. Seeing as how no one was up to talking to me yet, I had to find another way to amuse myself before my curiosity drew my gaze to the window.

My mind began to linger back to the letter in the box my parents, most likely my dad, left for me. What could possibly be in it? Heh, with my luck it's just an envelope full of horrible crayon pictures I drew. I remembered I used to love to draw. Especially pictures of mommy coming back. Pictures of us being happy. Pictures of me and daddy and then some of just with a rainbow behind me.

I don't draw anymore. I take all of my frustration out through music now, even though I can't play very well I still like to take out my old guitar and play the hell out of it when I'm angry, or sad… or feeling any strong emotion really. I just took up the guitar this year a couple of months ago, owing to my not knowing much of what to do yet. One of my best friends encouraged me to start. Of course **he** can play like a rock star. He promised to teach me more about it so I could get better. Someday, he often joked, I might even be half as good as him. I'd love to be able to play well.

Seems like I won't get the chance to learn from him anymore, hey?

Damn mutant school.

This was going to be way harder than I thought. Wait… did I ever think that this was going to be easy? Bad Marlee, bad…

* * *

"_Gram, Gram where are you? I'm home! I escaped! Did you miss me? Gram?"_

_I smiled proudly as I searched through my house for my grandmother. I looked in the kitchen, expecting her to be bustling about making a pot of tea, but there she wasn't there. Then I looked in the living room, maybe she would be watching her soap operas… No, she wasn't there either._

_I grew worried, Gram almost never left home, liking the quiet solitude it offered._

_Checking the rest of the house, she wasn't anywhere. There was no sign of her. _

_Locking the house up behind me, I walked down the road to Kristy's. Surely she'd be home and happy to see me. Kristy was almost as big as a homebody as Gram. I knocked on her door and there was no answer… weird._

_I looked down the street; a sick feeling came to my stomach when I noticed why it was so quiet._

_There were no cars, no people, and no sound of inhabitation. The buildings loomed empty. It was like a ghost town._

"_Gram? Kristy? What's going on? Why am I all alone? Anyone? Where is everyone?" I yelled out, expecting some sort of answer. _

_There was none.

* * *

_

"Marlee wake up we're here," I shook out of my slumber to see Mrs. Summers leaning over me. I frowned and rubbed my eyes… At least I didn't scream in anyone's face this time. I think she was relieved.

I thought back to the dream I had been having but I couldn't remember anything other than a feeling of unease in my gut. Not exactly something one relishes waking up to.

Taking a look out the window I see what I guessed was the mansion. It was huge! And the most beautiful mansion you could imagine. I looked around, but I didn't see any sort of runway. Bracing myself for a field landing – there were enough of them around the mansion to support a fleet of Black Bird's – I was shocked when we banked around to start flying into a waterfall.

"Um…"

"It's alright, Marlee," Mrs. Summers reassured me as she made her way back to her seat in the front. Bobby, sitting across from me, snickered.

…

We were loosing altitude quickly, and I started fidgeting, the waterfall definitely didn't look like a suitable runway.

…

I was milliseconds away from fully freaking out when an underground tunnel opened up inside the waterfall, landing lights lit up on either side of a tarmac runway.

…

"Well you could have mentioned that before…" I grumbled.

Scott looked back at me and smirked before easing the jet into the fully lighted tunnel. It a little scary at first but I'd definitely rather be underground than 20,000 feet in the air.

The jet landed with a small bump and the massive door opened up. The "child lock" on my seat belt was released immediately and Scott and Bobby quickly escorted me down the exit ramp. I supposed they wanted to do it swiftly, so I wouldn't have any time to do anything stupid. At the bottom of the ramp I looked up from the completely fascinating ground to see and six grimacing faces, one being a little bald man in a surreal looking wheel chair.

"You've given us a fair bit of trouble these last few days, Marlee."

Feeling impudent I muttered, "Am I supposed to apologize?"

I cringed, hearing the words out loud made them sound a lot ruder. Shit. I could feel the lecture coming. Surprisingly the old guy didn't launch into a big old speech about insolence in young people. Instead he broke into a wide, kinda creepy, secretive smile.

"Welcome home."

* * *

End Chapter Five

Well, bit of a transition chapter, wot? Hope you enjoyed it despite that. Until next chapter! Nico-Ru and Satori B signing off!


	6. Home Ain't where the heart is

_Chapter Six _ _Home Ain't Where the Heart is…_

It had been five minutes since I landed, and the bald guy's words were still echoing in my head.

"_Welcome home."_

The man was crazy! There must have been as much in his head as there was on it… I give them hell and all I get is 'welcome home'? No slap on the wrist, warning or anything?

I'm disappointed… If I want to be kicked out of here I guess I'll have to try harder. As I started to lay the groundwork for another devious plan, Jean raised her eyebrow and stared pointedly at me. Damn. My plans for world domination will just have to wait until I get far enough away from the telepath.

'_Don't even joke about that, Marlee.'_

'_Get out of my head then! Invasion of privacy much?'_

She sighed in my head then I was left with my own thoughts. Before I could enjoy them, the creepy bald man cleared his throat bringing everyone's attention back to him.

He smiled that eerie grin and finally continued with his "lecture"

"As I was saying…Welcome, to Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters…to your new home. I am Professor Charles Xavier, founder of this school and a mentor of sorts." He smiled at me, and I got the feeling there was more to what he was saying than what I understood.

"Now, I know you already know the group who brought you here, but now seems as good a time as ever to get the formal introductions out of the way," he slightly inclined his head at Scott. "Scott Summers, also known as Cyclops, for obvious reasons. He is one of the senior most instructors here at the institute, he deals with most of the physical training and usage of powers."

Scott nodded at me. Physical training, eh? He didn't seem buff enough to be a physical trainer… Once more, before I could fully enjoy my train of thought, Professor Xavier was continuing on.

"Jean Grey-Summers, also known as Phoenix. Another senior mentor, and she will be more than happy to help you with any questions you have about the school. Jean is similar to myself in that she helps out with mental control and abilities."

Seeing I didn't understand the connection between the two of them, he elaborated. "Jean and I both have psychic abilities. The ability to read minds with the exception of Jean who can also move objects with her mind. "Oh."

He smiled. "Ororo Munroe, the deputy headmistress of the Institute, if you will. She oversees a lot of the day-to-day tasks, more of which you will understand later on, I'm sure. Ororo also goes by Storm, she has the power to control the weather."

"Like me…" I remarked softly, not expecting anyone to hear.

"Yes, a lot like you," Xavier commented, pensively. "Lastly, Robert – Bobby – Drake," Xavier corrected himself. "Also goes by Iceman, this is his fifth year here at the institute. Recently graduated and studying accounting."

"Wait a minute – Accounting?" Would it be an understatement to say I was floored? "You want to be an accountant?" I would have lost it right there, and started rolling on the floor in laughter if the mood hadn't been so wrong for it. My outburst did manage to bring a small smile to both Mrs. Summers' and Miss Munroe's faces, Professor Xavier waited until I was recovered and Robert just glared.

"Why is that so hard to believe?" he asked defensively.

"Considering I would have pegged you as a rodeo clown…" I muttered.

Bobby turned away from us and ignored me.

"Now, that we have that out of the way, if you will follow me to my office I will further explain the rules of the mansion."

The warmth that filled me at finding out Bobby's strange career choice left me instantly. I felt like a pin had been taken to my balloon. Rules… Just what I always wanted. Hopefully they wouldn't be too fun-sucking…

Professor Xavier wheeled himself around and out the door, expecting me to follow without being told. I did so, feeling like a puppy. Bobby, Scotter and Mrs. Summers must have had more important things to do, because they left the room out another door. Leaving me and Miss Munroe to follow the humming wheelchair out of the hanger and down a wide metal hallway. I had to take quick, long strides to keep up with the chair - that man must have turbo working for him. It was really very hard to keep up…though Miss Munroe didn't seem to have a problem. Maybe I was just out of shape… Course it could have also been that I was distracted looking at the labels of each of the doors we came across. I got the impression they were all for storage, as there wasn't anything interesting written on them. After passing each one, I would have to jog to catch up to the pair of them.

Eventually we reached my saviour – the elevator.

I breathed a sigh of relief, and then squished myself in after Miss Munroe. I took my post in the back left corner, as far away from them as I could manage in an enclosed space. They raised a silent eyebrow at me – on Xavier this worked to a strange effect – but said nothing. I didn't offer a response. I prefer to enjoy the fun of elevators my own way, thank you very much.

We went up at least two floors and then there was more walking. At least now we were in a more inhabited section, with hardwood floors, paintings on the wall and doors leading to the laundry room and a workout room. My feet were starting to get sore… In a mansion full of mutants you'd think that one of them could have the power to make the floor move, for the benefit of the lazy. Or at least the initiative to install moving floors or something, because not everyone has a turbo wheelchair.

Hmmm… sounds like a power ranger…

Xavier covered up a quiet cough.

We _finally_ reached his office - which was basically right in front of the main doors! Well it was behind the main staircase but that's beside the point. My point was that we could have come in the front doors instead of traversing a huge metal hallway. Would've been a lot more scenic.

He opened the door and motioned us in.

My first thought was – 'Wow, swanky.' I was impressed with the shape of this room, not a skid mark on the perfect hardwood floors. Everything gave off the air of someone who was extremely cultured; there was a chessboard set up in front of the window, a large bookcase with various tomes… novels, an old fashioned globe in the corner… everything looked gorgeous, and expensive. I tried my best not to touch anything.

"Have a seat," he motioned towards some cushiony-looking burgundy seats that were in front of his very nice and antique looking desk. Miss Munroe sat down beside me and gave me an encouraging smile.

The Professor cleared his throat and began.

"As you already know Marlee, I am Professor Charles Xavier - the founder of this school," I recalled him mentioning this downstairs and nodded. "You will be staying here to train and to learn to control and properly use your special abilities, which is if I'm not mistaken, a combination of atmospheric controllization and electrokinesis?"

Speak English please? I had no idea what he was saying. "If you mean can I make it storm then… yeah?"

"That was what I was referring to." So… now I have some cool words longer than two syllables that I can use for what I can do… sweet!

"Your ability has much in common with that of Miss Munroe," he motioned his hand towards her, "as you already know. However, she can control all aspects of the weather – which is quite useful around here I must say – as opposed to yours which seems to only concerns the aspects involved in a thunderstorm."

"So," he continued, getting back on track, "Miss Munroe, or Ororo as she will no doubt prefer for you to address her as, will be your mentor and main teacher." He paused, "From the staggered expression on your face I gather you did not understand the last part. As well as attending regular schooling at the high school you will be taking special classes here as well."

I gave a half enthusiastic smile. 'Right on…' I thought wryly, 'more stress… that's just what I need.'

"So, now for the rules of the mansion." Professor Xavier began, steepling his fingers below his chin. I could tell this was the part he had had rehearsed after a few years of telling this to every new student who came through the doors. My suspicions were confirmed when he started to sound as if her were reciting it off some card. I did my best to listen, but you know rules and me, they seem to go through one ear and then out the other, often in less time than it took for someone to recite them to me.

"The surrounding woods are out of bounds, as well as the most of downstairs unless you are accompanied by a supervisor or on a training exercise. Downstairs you may go see Dr. Hank in his lab. It is expected that the males and females of the house will not go co-ed or anything of the sort. If you misbehave you will be punished and expected to work off your punishment by doing extra duties around the mansion. And be on time for classes, it is to your benefit to do so and you will be expected to make decent marks in both schools…"

I felt like a boulder had been dropped on my shoulders. And at the same time, my attention began slipping away. The Professor was talking about laundry… I inwardly was reflecting on the 'decent marks' thing… What did he mean by 'decent' exactly? Like passing? Or in a certain percentage? 'Cause that might be a problem.

"The first week will be difficult, but I know you can handle the transition. If you have any problems, please don't hesitate in asking. That is what we are here for. We will make an effort to welcome you here and I hope you make an effort to get to know everyone."

I nodded, and tried to swallow the large lump in my throat. I heard what he hadn't said. He wanted me to try and fit in…

"So Ororo, are you ready to show Marlee around?"

As was expected she smiled and stood up and said, "of course." She walked towards the carved, wooden double doors and turned back, waiting for me to follow. Slowly I stood from the chair and looked at the Professor. A bundle of emotions made their presence known in the gut of my stomach. The foremost of them made me feel that walking out those doors was something significant. I just didn't know what it was. The uneasy feeling followed me as I walked to where Miss Munroe was waiting.

'I know this isn't your home, Marlee,' the professor's voice said, entering my head and echoing gently in my mind as he straightened a few papers scattered over his desk. I stared at him, not really glaring but making it known to him that the mental conference was making me uncomfortable. 'And I will not try and convince you of it. All I ask is that you give us a chance to make this your new home. A new beginning for you.'

The feeling swelled, and then started to dissipate.

'A new beginning?' I thought, that didn't sound… so bad. At least he recognized that I wouldn't see this place as a new home. Not yet at least.

"I will see you later, Marlee," the professor smiled.

"Thank you, Professor," I replied quietly and shut the door.

"Where first?" I asked, looking around. Miss Munroe stood at the foot of the staircases. The view from the front windows was spectacular. The foyer had huge windows that let in, it seemed, the entire countryside. It was awesome. The staircases were huge and ornate, I ran a finger along the railing, noting that, however decorated the place was, you could still see the signs of many years of being lived in.

"Over here, Marlee." She led me into a fairly large, well-lit room with a sturdy but well-used wooden table with many wooden chairs set all around being the center of attention.

"A-a-afternoon, Miss Munroe," a boy not much older then me nodded at the white-haired woman and proceeded to walk at a very fast pace towards the door, clutching a bag of chips underneath one arm.

"Andrew," the boy stopped in his tracks, and turned to face Miss Munroe, who was looking at him with an eyebrow raised, "why aren't you in school?"

"Well you see Miss Munroe," Andrew began nervously, and started inching his way closer to the door. "I am… sick! Yes, sick… so sick in fact that I just couldn't go into school today… and… and risk in… infecting other kids."

"Mmhmm, so then why are you sneaking off with junk food then?"

"It's… for someone else?" With that, he made a mad dash out the door his bag of chips held tightly in his grasp.

She shook her head at his actions and swept an arm around the room, "this is the Informal dining room. Generally the instructors cook breakfasts on weekdays, and supper duty is shared around. On the weekends, you have to fend for yourself – except on Sunday evening, where everyone eats together here. It's a tradition Professor Xavier enforces, so there is no getting out of it." I took another glance around, admiring the art and noting the scuffs, burn marks and water-stains underneath the top layer of shine.

'At least our places have something in common.'

Miss Munroe led me into another room. And it was huge! And I mean REALLY damn big. There were sofas and comfy chairs everywhere. A very large new looking television sat right in the center of the main wall. Shelves and shelves of DVDs, videos and games took up the greater part of a huge bookcase. With only a little section set away for a few books. Misplaced text books for the most part. Wooden side tables were strategically placed, for snacking and schoolwork, she supposed.

She could tell that I was impressed, if at nothing else but the size of the television. "After the last television… broke… Professor Xavier finally allowed the children to pick out the largest one they could find. This is the living room, as you can tell it is one of our more popular rooms, particularly on Friday nights and Sunday afternoons, when there is often a particularly violent struggle over who has control of the VCR remote."

"Movie nights?"

"Yes."

"I see. Who usually wins?"

"Myself, Bobby or Miss Rogue."

"I've been hearing a lot about Rogue… When do I get to meet her?"

"Eventually, child. Miss Rogue is out now, but should be back at the mansion any day now."

"What about everyone else?" I asked as she led me into what couldn't be anything other than the main dining room. "When do I get to meet them?"

"I believe Xavier has something planned so that everyone may get to know one another. A dinner I believe." I nodded and she continued in her narrative. "This is our formal dining room. We used this room on special occasions – such as Christmas and Thanksgiving – or if Professor Xavier has important people visiting the school." You could tell the place wasn't used nearly as often as the other rooms. It didn't have the 'lived-in' feeling, but that didn't take away from its simplistic beauty. Keeping with the style of the foyer, the informal dining room and Professor Xavier's office, the room had an old-fashioned design theme. Old fashioned – HUGE – table, antique chairs, wall hangings, a family crest hanging over a fireplace and not to mention a gorgeous chandelier that sparkled intricately as the light hit it.

"Wow."

The next room was my room of choice. The kitchen.

"You can usually find whatever you need in here, grocery shopping is one of the main chores of living here. I advise you not to touch the chunky monkey ice cream, it is Miss Rogue's and she will be very displeased if you eat it." I scoffed and grinned. "I would also caution you not to eat the chocolate ripple."

"Why? Who's is that? Bobby's? Scott's?"

"Mine."

"Oh."

She laughed at the look on my face, and then, thinking about what I must have looked like, I laughed too.

We then went back in front of Professor Xavier's office. "As you already know, this is where Professor Xavier has his office, but behind that are his personal chambers, and here," she gestured to another room farther down, "is his personal study. You should not go in any of these rooms unless instructed."

And then the last room down stairs was the first door she had opened for me in at least fifteen minutes. "This is the library, we have books for everything your mind can come up with. And all reference material you might need for classes as well." My jaw dropped. There had be thousands of books in here. I had never been much of a reader but I was willing to change if I got to come in here all the time. It was pretty near a public library – and a lot better than the school library I had had at home… "If you can't find what you need in a book here, there is a book storage room in the basement and internet connections in the bedrooms."

"Sweet."

"Shall we go upstairs then?" she asked.

I nodded, "why not?"

So up the main staircase we went…and up…and up…and up we climbed. It was one big staircase let me tell you. When we finally reached our destination I was out of breath.

"Isn't there an elevator?" I asked innocently.

She chuckled, "You will just have to get used to climbing these everyday."

In front of the set of stairs we had just come up was yet another set "we're not going up those ones are we?"

"No, up there is only my room and the conservatory."

"What's a conservatory?"

"A greenhouse, child."

"I see. It must be beautiful."

"If you don't mind climbing more stairs, I would be pleased to show it to you."

"Thanks," I replied, "not today though…"

The first room we explored on the second floor was filled with different games. Board games, a pinball machine, pool table, dart board, air hockey… and various other games. There was another television set up against the wall, far smaller than the one gracing the wall downstairs, with a few young teens gathered around it, playing some sort of racing game. They were a few years younger than I was, by the looks of them and they were so caught up in their games that they didn't seem to notice our entrance.

"This is the play room."

Well thank you captain obvious…

Upon hearing Miss Munroe's voice, one of the kids put the game on pause – to cries of alarm from the other three and called out a greeting to her. The other's quickly followed suit, but had the game unpaused and were racing again just as quickly. Miss Munroe smiled at them fondly before we continued on.

We continued forward, "Down this hall are the male living quarters."

Needless to say we did not continue our adventure down there. From the strange odour wafting down the hall, I was happy for the detour. Instead she opened up a door a few feet down the hall, "This is the workshop, you can do school work, mutant work, work out, hold study meetings, whatever you need." I took a quick glance around and it looked fairly calm until I saw spikes flying out from everywhere in the reflection of one of the framed paintings. Then I just got plain ol' freaked out.

'She DID say mutant work…' I told myself, trying to get over what I just saw.

It wasn't easy.

The next room was the "laundry room."

I had never seen a mess that big since I was little and decided that I was going to run away. I had somehow packed all of my clothes and toys together in a half dozen shopping bags. It had been going fine, until the bags split. Leaving a mess that only came close to the chaos here. There were dirty t-shirts, jeans, sweaters and boxers all over the place and in various stages of cleanliness.

"Just finishing up a little laundry," a certain blonde haired cross dresser grinned from his position on top of one of the dryers. I should have known he would be behind this mess.

"I see that Bobby," Miss Munroe stated, "You _will_ be cleaning up after yourself."

"Of course, Ororo," Bobby grinned, "don't I always?" From the look on her face, I knew the answer. While they bantered back and forth good naturedly, I took in the size of the place. It wasn't near as big as the living room or the dining room, but for a laundry room, the place was still impressive. I counted eight heavy duty washers and the same number of dryers. Laundry day here must be hellish… Especially if you were the one stuck on duty. Couldn't wait for that happy day… Turning back to Bobby and Miss Munroe I surveyed the mess he had left on the floor.

"Is that just yours?" I asked him, he nodded, though he didn't look me in the eye. Still peeved from the accountant comment after I had first met Professor Xavier I supposed. "You are such a **girl**."

"What's that supposed to mean!" he demanded.

I replied calmly, pointing at the mound of debris in front of my foot. "Most guys I know don't own half that many clothes…" Miss Munroe hid a chuckle by pretending to cough quietly.

"I-" he started to say, but I noticed something in the pile of clothes closest to the washer that I was distracted and didn't hear his witty retort (if he had come up with one at all.)

Digging around with my toe – I was so NOT going to actually touch his boxers, clean or not – I found something that most definitely did not belong. Uncovering it with a snicker I looked up at Bobby, who was watching me warily. I brought the light pink shirt to the top of the pile, and watched Miss Munroe's expression intently.

"Oh Roberta… I thought I told you pink wasn't your color!"

"Bobby!"

"I was giving it back, Ororo! I was going to wash it first!" he screamed, ducking behind a washer.

"Why did you have it in the first place?"

"Uh…" that was my cue.

I guess Roberta was wise enough not to tell Miss Munroe, Scotter or Mrs Summers about his fashion shoot. Though, I guess even he didn't know about the fashion shoot part… he had been sleeping…

"Come on Miss Munroe, let's leave Roberta… Bobby! Bobby to his laundry…"

Miss Munroe looked around at the mess, glared at Bobby who was still cowering behind the washer, grabbed her top and continued down the hall, with me following behind, hoping she wouldn't ask more about the incident.

Though the look on both their faces had been worth it…

"These are the female living quarters. Bathrooms and showers are in here," she pointed to a door on my left. "Towels are in the closet across the hall," she gestured again.

I liked the girls' side much better than the guys. There was no rank smell coming from down it for one thing, and it looked a lot cleaner too. There were a fair number of rooms, some, from the space between the doors, were larger than others, but I took that to mean that they held various numbers of people. When I asked Miss Munroe about it she said that most of the rooms were singles, though the younger students had two or four people in a room.

"To help them get over homesickness," she explained.

We walked by many rooms, some with some questionable sounds coming from them. Varying from loud music to screams of rage.

"Wow, someone seems to be a mood," I laughed, nervously I'll admit.

She looked at me, "you had better not let Hotshot hear you say that…"

"Who's Hotshot?"

"She's a student, about your age, she's been here for around a year now."

"She always this loud?"

Miss Munroe simply smiled at me, knowing something I didn't.

That was about the time where two girls came flying out of the room. One sparking from the hands and the other's head was… on fire? I opened my mouth to say something, but closed it immediately. That must be Hotshot, living up to her nickname.

"Natalie! I'm going to kill you!"

"Hailey, calm down… it was just a joke!"

"He's never going to talk to me now!"

"No big loss…"

Hailey shrieked again and threw herself at Natalie, who was laughing unrestrainedly.

"Marlee, meet Hotshot and Livewire," Miss Munroe said simply. The two girls, hearing their names called, ceased in their struggles and stared at Miss Munroe, both of them sighing dramatically, as if a great injustice had befallen on them.

"Do you have to call us by code names all the time Ororo?" they glared at her jokingly. They both waved at me genially and introduced themselves.

"Hey there, I'm Natalie."

"I'm Hailey."

I didn't let on that I had already figured out who was who from the fit they had taken in the middle of the hallway.

"Marlee, nice to meet you."

"Ditto. See ya around!"

"Bye!"

"See ya _Stormie…_" Natalie shot over her shoulder as they continued down the hall.

I stood, watching them leave, kind of alarmed.

"They are not always so…"

"Weird?"

"For lack of a better word… yes," Miss Munroe smiled, "there are many other girls here your age, but the pair of them are not so bad after talking to them a couple of times."

I remained unconvinced. But I supposed they couldn't have been that bad. Better than Pearl anyway. I grinned fondly. I hadn't thought of Pearl for the longest time it seemed. I wondered how she was getting along without me… Maybe she had found someone else to follow around and worship…

I feel for them, whoever it was.

"Here we are," we stopped in front of a white door.

"Nice door," I remarked casually, looking at her strangely. I knew what I hoped it was, but was milking the situation for all that I could.

"This will be your room Marlee."

"I'm in a room by myself, right?"

"Yes, luckily for you, one of the older students had recently moved out. If she hadn't we would have had to have you bunk with Livewire – Natalie," she corrected herself.

"I'm glad," I said, "not that I don't like the sound of her or anything, I'm just not sued to sharing a room with anyone." She nodded in understanding and turned the doorknob. She looked down at me, uncertainly, "keep in mind we still need to go shopping for it. You have all the furnishings – a bed and a desk. Someone will be taking you shopping within the week.

She opened the door. I was so excited. Who cares if I had to fix it up a bit, to make it more to my liking, at least I had a room! And it didn't sound too bad. Hopefully it came with a computer, because I wanted to make full use of the internet connection she had mentioned.

The door opened and I entered. Full of ideas and mentally thinking about the posters I had brought with me and where to hang them… It was going to be awesome.

I was blind.

Completely blinded.

My face fell.

It was the most horrible thing in the world!

It was a monstrosity!

I couldn't believe it!

I stumbled back and withheld a cry of pain.

It burned my eyes…

It was… it was… bright… pink!


End file.
